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M^.^ Emma Hardinge Britten . 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES; 

OR, 

SPIRITS AND THEIR WORK IN EVERY COUNTRY 
OF THE EARTH. 

A COMPLETE HISTORICAL COMPENDIUM 

OF THE GREAT MOVEMENT KNOWN AS 

^'MODERN spiritualism:' 



K 



EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN, 

Author of 

' History of Modern American Spiritualism ; " " Wildfire Club ; " " Faiths, Facts, and Frauds of Religious 

History ;" " On the Road : or, a Manual for Spiritual Investigators ; " " The Electric Physician ;" 

"The Western Star Magazine ; " and numerous Lectures on Religion, 

Theology, Science and Reform. 




PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM BRITTEN. 

New York: Lovell & Co., 14, Vesey Street. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S84, 

By WILLIAM BRITTEN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. 



DEDICATION. 

losE Names, unknown on Earth, shine in Laipjortal Types 
IN the Archives of Eternity, 
This Humble Record of the Mightiest Work ever 

Performed on Earth. 

Is Gratefully Inscribed by 

The Author. 



THE Limes, 

HHmpJi.rey St., Chectham Hill, 

Jianchcster, E:igland. 

December, 1SS3. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 
Introduction i-5 

SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY. 
Chapters i to 6 7~4i 

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE. 
Chapters 7 to 11 41-90 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
Chapters 12 to 28 90-226 

SPIRITUALISM IN AUSTRALIA. 
Chapters 29 to 31 ... 227-261 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ZEALAND. 
Chapters 32 and 33 • 262-276 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE POLYNESIAN AND WEST INDIA ISLANDS. 
Chapter 34 277-284 

SPIRITUALISM IN SOUTH AMERICA, MEXICO, &c. 
Chapter 35 2S4-291 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST INDIES— HINDOSTAN, &c. 
Chapters 36 to 38 291-326 

SPIRITUALISM IN HOLLAND. 
Chapters 39 to 41 326-341 



vi. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE DUTCH INDIES. 
Chapter 42 341-34S 

SPIRITUALISM IN RUSSIA. 
Chapters 43 and 44 348-365 

SPIRITUALISM IN SCANDINAVIA, NORWAY, SWEDEN, &c,, &c. 
Chapters 45 and 46 •. 365-379 

SPIRITUALISM IN SWITZERLAND. 
Chapter 47 379-389 

SPIRITUALISM IN ITALY. 
Chapter 48 389-400 

SPIRITUALISM IN SPAIN. 
Chapter 49 .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 400-412 

SPIRITUALISM IN EUROPE CONCLUDED-^AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, 
AND TURKEY. 

Chapter 50 413-425 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA. 
Chapters 51 to 61 425-556 



TABLE OF REFERENCE ON SPECIAL 
SUBJECTS. 

The following Table of References, although by no means designed to fill the 
place of a complete index, will be found serviceable to those who desire to refer to 
prominent cases on special subjects : — 

MESMERISM AS A STEPPING-STONE TO SPIRITUALISM,— Pages 7 to 
18, 41 to 44, 48, 124 to 126. 

HEALINGS AND HEALERS.— Pages 26 and seq., 34, 60, 64 and seq., 68 and seq., 
69, 72, 77. 83, 99. 125, 175, 217, 250 to 254, 277, 404, 415. 

SPIRIT MUSIC.— Pages 75-76, 143-4, 147, 322, 337, 339, 340, 423, 480, 

DRAWINGS BY SPIRIT POWER.— Pages 87, 100, 163, 170, 233, 339, 419, 423, 
433. 480, 532 to 534, 536. 

DIRECT WRITINGS BY SPIRITS,— Pages 40, 59, 166-7-8, 214, 238, 291 to 296, 
337: 339- 

PASSAGE OF MATTER THROUGH MATTER.— Pages 40, 44, 80, 82, 84, 92 to 
96, 147, 148, 160 to 162, 166. 

FLOATING OF THE HUMAN BODY IN THE AIR.— Pages 33, 144 to 146, 
160 to 162, 77, 258, 337, 422, 423. 

TESTIMONY OF ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONAGES.— Pages 27-8-9, 35, 37, 43, 
73-4-5, 78-9. 105 to 128, 144-5, 150-1, 153, 176 to 180, 183 to 187, 189, 201, 202-3, 
205-6, 218 to 222, 230, 347, 349 to 352, 444-5, 448, 393, 413 and seq., 456 to 469. 

ECSTATICS. — Pages 29, 30, 67, 85, 168, 99 to 102; Irish Revivals, no to 123, 323, 
366, 415-16-17, 498 to 502. 

TALKING SPIRITS.— Pages loo-i, 103, 144, 385, 509 to 515. 

HAUNTINGS AND OBSESSIONS.— Pages 19 to 25, 31. Berg gheister, Kobolds.— 
Pages 32, 65, 80 to 85, 92 to 99, 343 to 346, 362, 366 to 377, 379 to 385, 389, 392, 
399, 503 to 506. 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE LAW COURTS AND OFFICIAL INVESTIGA- 
TIONS. — Pages 13, 51, 81, 82, 88, 127, 157, 182, 188 and seq., 193, 194, ig6 to 198, 
248, 270, 355, 358, 435, 469 to 477. 

MATERIALIZED SPIRIT FORMS AND PHYSICAL FORCE MANIFESTA- 
TIONS. — Pages 18 to 2o' 28 to 33, 38 to 40, 80 to 90, 94 to gg, 100 to 105, 142 to 149, 
152 to 159, 159 to 171, 214 to 216, 235, 241 to 246, 255 to 266, 277 to 284, 311 to 313, 
314, 338 to 341, 354, 359, 360,434, 435,405, 507 to 508, 515 to 518, 519 to 527, 539. 

SPEAKING AND WRITING WITH FOREIGN "TONGUES."— Dr. Slade, 
from pages 37 to 40; Irvingites, 100 to 109; Irish Revivals (chaps. 14 and 15), 
227 to 236, 238 to 247, 434. 

WRITING MEDIUMSHIP.— 36 to 40, 42 to 45, 58 to 60, 165 to 170, 227 to 249, 
318, 397, 401, 406, 414. 



NOTE TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Author having found it impossible to procure many of the portraits of the 
various illustrious Spiritualists of different countries mentioned in this work, and a 
large number having been furnished from Great Britaih, America, and one or two 
other special localities, it has been deemed necessary to preserve the symmetry of 
the book by distributing the illustrations uniformly towards the close of every 
other chapter. The reader, no less than the honoured originals of the various 
portraits, therefore, must kindly allow for this necessity, and be prepared to find 
the portraits often widely removed from the pages wherein the persons so represented 
are mentioned. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Eternity and Infinity are the only words that seeiB, in our imperfect 
forms of speech, to embody the conditions of spiritual existence. Time 
and Space are equally apposite to the state of being we call " material." 
Whilst therefore, we essay to write of a dispensation which manifests the 
characteristics of the endless and illimitable, it must not be forgotten that 
we are yet denizens of a material sphere, bounded in on every side by the 
limitations of time and space. 

The author of these pages would press the above propositions upon the 
reader's attention, because they may serve to excuse the necessity of 
secularizing a subject, the high religious import of which should command 
the most sublime forms of expression that language can supply. But as 
the inspiring intelligences who prompt the production of this volume, mark 
out the beaten path of verbal simplicity as the best that can be adopted 
for the reader's benefit, and charge the author to leave to posterity only a 
brief compendious record of the footprints made by an invisible world of 
being in this, the nineteenth century, so must our chief aim be to reduce 
to the plainest possible mode of expression the tale we have to tell. The 
reader will find then in the following pages, nothing more than a concise 
historical summary of the spiritual movement as it has transpired in various 
countries of the earth, from the commencement of the nineteenth century. 

There have been certain features of specialty in this "cause" in America, 
which have given it a prominence there unparalleled in any other country. 
This remarkable distinctiveness the author has already testified to by 
pubHshing a voluminous work embodying the history of the first twenty 
years of American Spiritualism.* Any student endowed with ordinary 
powers of observation will soon discover that " the modern outpouring of 
the spirit" has been just as full in other lands as in America, but no where 
else has the same freedom of speech been allowed to testify to the facts of 
spirit communion. No other people have so fully organised the propa- 
ganda of the movement by the aid of professional media as the Americans, 
neither have the inhabitants of any other country so universally systema- 
tized the use and culture of " spiritual gifts." It must also be remembered, 
that the immense mass of spiritual literature put forth through the American 
press has contributed largely to the popular understanding of the subject. 
Considering however, the world-wide character of the spiritual outpouring 
in the nineteenth century, the author has been urgently entreated— by such 

* " Modern American Spiritualism : a twenty years' record of the open communion 
between spirits and mortals." By Emma Hardinge Britten. Published by Colby 
and Rich, office of the Banner of Light, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 
I 



2 INTR OD UCTION. 

dwellers of the life beyond as can make their wishes understood — to sup- 
plement the History of American Spiritualism, by one which shall include 
compendious sketches of the movement all over the earth, as well as con- 
tinue the record in America from its first twenty years of action to the 
present date. In carrying out this plan of the work, the author has been 
strongly counselled by the same inteUigences as prompt the undertaking, 
to write of what pertains to the history of Spiritualism without fear 
or favour, but to omit, as far as possible, all notice of those excres- 
cences which invariably fasten on the armies of reform, in the shape 
of fraud, imbecility, or such evidences of human selfishness as repre- 
sent what Spiritualism is not — not what it really is. Whilst then, we 
would "nothing extenuate, or set down aught in malice," we shall 
unhesitatingly point to any breaches made in the spiritual garrison by 
human intervention, but carefully avoid giving to the worthless interloper, 
that notoriety which so many seek to obtain, even at the price of tamper- 
ing with " the life lightnings," through which the angels telegraph to man ; 
in a word, the cheat, swindler, and parasite, whose genius it is to prey upon 
any cause strong enough to bear them along on the broad current of 
progress, may look in vain for opportunities to make capital out of this 
volume. Whether we send it down the stream of time to the one or the 
many, we do not propose to disgrace its pages with names which simply 
represent the darker features of humanity, not the light destined to be 
shed abroad by the great nineteenth-century spiritual outpouring. 

With these impelling motives to our undertaking, we essay its commence- 
ment, committing the result to God and the angels, whose work it is, and 
under whose guidance the author reverently attempts the record. 

CONCERNING THE WORKERS AND THEIR WORK. 

How far disembodied spirits are the authors of the startling phenomena 
which have obtained the name of " Modern Spiritualism," how much of 
the reported marvels are due to the spirit within man himself, or owe their 
colouring to exaggeration on the part of the narrator, and easy credulity 
on that of the observer, are questions which are agitating thoughtful minds 
everywhere, both within and without the ranks of Spiritualism. 

That fraudulent manifestations have been given, and in many instances 
publicly represented as proceeding from spirits, none can deny ; but the 
question of how to discern the true from the false, is of the most vital 
importance, especially to a writer, whose sole aim is to present a worthy 
record of a sublime truth, yet to free it from all the misrepresentation 
which would render such a record valueless. 

The chief obstacles which intervene between this purpose and its 
accomplishment, are the manifestations of partisan spirit, which find their 
readiest sphere of representation in the columns of the spiritual journals. 
One set of writers determinately upholds every asserted claim to medium- 
ship, however flimsy, and hurls denunciation against every individual who 
either presumes to question the validity of that claim, or draws attention to 
the most palpable evidence of imposture. This injurious spirit of credulity, 
so often mistaken by the world for complicity with the impostor, is met on 
the other hand by equally violent denunciation of all which the denouncer 
cannot himself fully apprehend. 

The editors of the spiritual journals are besieged with demands to make 
their columns the arena of this unseemly warfare. If they comply, they 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

disgust and offend the impartial, whilst their refusals to do so, are regarded 
as tantamount to partisanship, to be construed at the pleasure of the 
belligerents. But a still worse result of this quarrelsome and self-assertive 
spirit, is the difficulty which it interposes of arriving at any reliable 
representation of a communion, which depends wholly for its acceptance 
on the validity of the facts claimed for it. 

The philosophy of Spiritualism, however beautiful in theory, or true in 
principle, grows out of its facts, for, if spirits are not the authors of the 
communications received in their names, the whole theory of a hereafter — 
as demonstrated by Spiritualism — crumbles into the dust and ashes which 
underlie the unsustained assertions of theology. 

To place religion upon the assured foundation of knowledge, and redeem 
mankind from the tempest-tossed ocean of speculative opinion, we have 
nothing, unless we have facts and basic fundamental principles. To 
demonstrate these, and guide our drifting souls into the ports of eternity by 
the infallible compass of truth, spirits have come to earth. 

What then can we say of the remorseless swindlers, who would simulate 
the personality of these angelic pilots, or the imbecile credulity of those who 
allow themselves to be duped by their shallow pretences ? 

Testimony on so weighty and solemn a question as Spiritual existence, 
can only be admissible when it is proven beyond the peradventure of one 
or two interested witnesses ; in short, the entire intercommunion between 
the two worlds, must be based on the impregnable rock of truth, or it can 
never shake the earth with the birth throes of a religion, which claims to 
demonstrate immortality, as the corner-stone upon which man's faith may 
rest unmoved. 

On the other hand, psychological conditions are subtle, and as yet often 
incomprehensible, in their working. 

Those who attempt to deal with them, whilst they should observe their 
modes with the closest scrutiny, should yet approach the subject in a con- 
siderate and even reverential spirit; always remembering, that they may 
break or destroy, whilst they endeavour to bend and shape, the invisible 
force, to suit man's ignorance and presumption. It is certain, however, that 
discourteous treatment and rude denunciation are not the methods best 
calculated to evolve psychic phenomena, or ensure results which obviously 
require calm and harmonious mental conditions. Dean Swift was not far 
wrong when he said, that " it required a man with brains to write a book, 
but any brainless ass could criticise it." And this is true of all intellectual 
processes, Spiritualism not excepted. Whilst the wise and philosophical 
investigator may take much pains to study out the best means of evolving 
phenomena, the presence of the boorish ignoramus may be quite sufficient 
to mar its production. At present, we are profoundly ignorant of all the laws 
and forces concerned in the evolution of spiritual phenomena ; hence, we 
should be prepared to extend an equal amount of charity both to the medium 
and the investigator, confident that the spirit of partizanship will never favour 
the discovery of truth, or promote the integrity of righteous judgment. 
Many attempts have been made to draw unfavourable comparisons between 
the value of testimony received from paid or professional mediums, and 
that obtained through persons whose rank and wealth might be supposed to 
exclude the hypothesis of motives for practising deception. 

Unfortunately for the theory that non-professional mediums alone are 
reliable, the assumption is not based upon admissible facts, for it can be 
shown, that a large percentage of the alleged spirit communications 



4 'INTRODUCTION. 

received through non-professional mediumship, is often tinctured by 
hallucination, self-deception, and prepossession of opinion, especially upon 
religious subjects, whilst some of the most notorious exposes that have 
occurred in connexion with physical mediumship, have involved ladies and 
gentlemen, whose positions in society, were assumed to be sufficient warranty, 
to exclude all idea of fraud or deception. 

If the difficulty also of testing mediums, when the investigators are 
simply guests, and the slightest appearance of suspicion would be resented 
as a mortal affront, be taken into account, the balance, as a whole, may be 
struck in favour of maintaining professional mediumship, especially for the 
purposes of investigation and the more general advancement of Spiritualism 
amongst the masses. In the meantime, there are two forms of spiritual 
manifestation which are not open to any of the objections above 
suggested ; manifestations, which can be criticised and examined at pleasure, 
and which always present testimony of an indisputable character. These are, 
first ; spontaneous or unevoked phenomena, occurring without preparation ; 
and next, all such forms of intelligence as cannot be traced, either to the 
knowledge of the communicants or the mentality of the recipients. Multi- 
tudes of both these forms of spiritual agency will be found detailed in this 
volume ; in fact, the autltor has given the preference, wherever possible, to 
the records of spontaneous phenomena, because its production is freed 
from all those equivocal conditions which surround invocatory processes. 
These, together with the vast mass of supra-mundane intelligence which 
has been given during the modern spiritual dispensation, are quite sufficient 
to demonstrate the facts of spiritual agency, and place the cause on a basis 
of proof, that rises triumphantly over the most injudicious partisanship, or 
the most bigoted antagonism. 

We now trust our readers will understand in what spirit this volume is 
written, and why its author has withheld a large mass of offered testimony, 
extravagantly lauded by one party, and equally extravagantly denounced 
by another. Also, why those names are omitted from the roll-call of the 
grand spiritual army that have been made the Shibboleth of contending 
parties, to prove or disprove imposture. 

We may often err in the conclusions we attempt to draw, and utterly fail 
to do justice to the stupendous theme we treat of, but we will never wilfully 
aid in deluding a generation, seeking to find in Spiritualism, the path to 
Heaven that no merely speculative faith can point out. 

In endeavouring to trace out with all fidelity, the origin of the great 
modern spiritual movement, it will soon become apparent that though very 
momentous results were obtained in the Hydesville investigations of 1848 — 
especially in the discovery of a systematic mode of communing with spirits 
through a set of concerted signals — yet even in America, the land in which 
Spiritualism has attained to a pre-eminent degree of popularity, spirit com- 
munion was demonstrated, long prior to the " Hydesville disturbances " ; 
in fact, it is obvious that this century in the New, as well as the Old World, 
has been remarkable for the persistence with which spirits have endea- 
voured to effect a direct method of intercourse with mortals. 

The causes before alluded to, which have favoured the marked publicity 
to which Spiritualism has attained in America, should be carefully 
considered, and will be found explanatory of the custom of dating the 
commencement of the modern movement, from the "Rochester knockings" 
in 1848. One great difficulty in attempting to chronicle the details of this 
movement, is the very fact that it did not originate in any special locaUty, 



INTR OD UCTION. 5 

or at any given time, inasmuch as it manifested its influence in a sponta- 
neous and universal outpouring all over the world, coming and going like 
the wind — few, if any, could say whence, or whitherward. Again ; it is 
because we cannot trace up the history of modern Spiritualism consecutively 
from point to point, either in time or place, that we find it expedient to 
take the com.mencement of this century for our data, and propose to treat 
of the manifestations as they occurred, independently, in the various countries 
of earth from which authentic records are obtainable. In pursuance of 
this plan, we shall commence our researches in Germany, where we shall 
find abundant testimony to the supra-mundane character of the intelligence 
derivable from spirit sources, as well as proof positive, that spirits have 
manifested their presence on earth through spontaneous action and wholly 
unprepared conditions. 



"NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES;" 



SPIRITS AND THEIR WORK IN EVERY COUNTRY OF 
THE WORLD. 



CHAPTER I. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY. 
(from the close of the I 8th to the beginning of the 19TH CENTURY.) 

William Howitt, that most indefatigable student of every subject on which 
he chose to exercise his facile pen, in his " History of the Supernatural," 
writes in strong terms against the custom of identifying the modern 
Spiritual movement with America as its birth place, or the "Rochester 
knockings," as the opening of intelligent communication between mortals 
and spirits. 

We have already pointed to the reasons which have tended to popularize 
Spiritualism in America, but we must add, that the very methods so favour- 
able to the diffusion of knowledge on Spiritual subjects, are not in 
accordance with the conservatism of older countries, especially in Germany, 
where the prevailing policy has been to discountenance and even forbid 
associations, having for their aim the investigation of subjects not im- 
mediately fostered by the government. 

In America, the investigator finds his best opportunities for gathering up 
knowledge concerning the status of Spiritualism, in public meetings, .s.*unday 
services, conferences, children's lyceums, and the columns of journals 
specially devoted to the interests of the Spiritual cause. 

In Germany, Spiritualism has no publicly defined status. It is not known 
as a movement, and until the last few years, has had no periodicals devoted 
to its exposition ; yet the higher class of German literature, redolent of 
Spiritual facts and philosophy, is most voluminous, and a long and briUiant 
array of eminent German writers could be mentioned, whose works are 
almost entirely devoted to Spiritualistic subjects. 

Take for example the history of Jiing Stilling, the famous pneumatologist, 
whose life-long experiences in seership, inspiration, prophecy, and the gift 
of healing, no bigot, however prejudiced, can deny. Cotemporary with 
this celebrated phenomenal character, was the noble Swiss philosopher 
Lavater, whilst the literature of the period was enriched by the writings of 



8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Eschenmayer, Mayer, Gorres, Schubert, Werner, Kant, Dr. Ennemoser, 
the author of the most exhaustive treatise on magic, extant ; Dr. Justinius 
Kerner, the renowned magnetist and biographer of the hfe and experiences 
of "the Seeress of Prevorst"; Zschocke, the famous seer and mystic; and many 
others, whose works connect the close of the last century with the opening 
of the present, and by the profusion of spiritual evidences they bring, 
unite in one unbroken chain, the modern outpouring, with the Sweden- 
borgian and Paracelsian period ; with mediaeval spiritualism, or those 
forms of influx stigmatised by the ignorance of the times as " Witchcraft 
and Sorcery " ; whilst again ; the ghastly records of those dark days reach 
back in continuous links of connection with the more sublime, because 
more distant revelations of the Christian, Hebraic, and those other ancient 
dispensations, during which the foundations of world-wide religious systems 
were laid. 

To return to the immediate subject of this chapter. Germany has made 
no sensational mark in the form of popular spiritualism, but she has con- 
tributed to the age a wealth of recorded facts, philosophy, and high-toned 
spiritual literature, unmatched by any other nation of our own times. It is 
to Germany too, that the world owes one of the mightiest discoveries that 
has ever been made in spiritual science, for Germany was the birth-place 
of Anton Mesmer, a pioneer in the realms of the imponderable, through 
whose stupendous revelations, miracle became converted into law, the 
supernatural into the spiritual, and ancient alchemy into modern 
magnetism ; in a word, it is only in contemplating the great and 
revolutionary work effected by Mesmer, that we can begin to appreciate the 
influence of the German mind upon the movement we now assume to be of 
purely spiritual authorship. 

SEERS, PROPHETS, AND MEDIUMS. 

A close observer of all phenomena of a spiritualistic character, will 
recognise, that they require for their production the presence of certain 
exceptional persons, such as in ancient time were termed seers and 
prophets ; in the middle ages, witches and wizards ; and in our own time, 
magnetic subjects, or spirit mediums. 

In the mystic writings of the Orientalists, it is intimated that the wonder- 
working element displayed in special individuals is latent in the whole 
human race, and can be brought into action by certain elaborate methods 
of culure. Now, although the Mediaeval Mystics, especially Cornelius 
Agripf>^, Van Helmont, and Jacob Bohmen, have professed to give 
instructions for the unfoldment of magical power, the readers of their 
treatises have seldom profited by them ; in fact, so vast have been the 
claims for what might be done, and so futile the attempts to realize these 
claims, that magical processes have long been relegated to the realms of 
shadowy superstition. Not so however, the study of those mysterious 
forces with which the visible universe is teeming. Whether the affinities 
of chemistry, and the potencies of light, heat, and magnetism, &c., had 
anything to do with the "vital principle" in animated bodies, has been a 
question which often obtruded itself upon the philosopher, though never in 
such a shape as admitted of practical analysis. Paracelsus, Van Eelmont, 
and Bohmen, have hinted at the existence of such a connection, and the 
first named, professed to have made cures by discovering the assimilation 
of the magnet to the hunian system. Still the great problems of ,the vital 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 9 

forces or the Elixir Vitce, have remained unsolved, and would have 
continued to do so but for the timely appearance of Anton Mesmer, who, 
about the middle of the last century, brought the wand of science to bear 
upon the enchantments of ignorance, and in a single lifetime, broke that 
spell of mystery which had enshrouded the hidden secrets of life, and the 
correllation of all forces in the universe. These may seem large claims 
to make for one who, in his own day, was denounced as an impostor by 
the scientific world, misunderstood and deserted even by those he had 
most benefited, and suffered to die in obscurity by the very followers who 
should have placed him on the highest pinnacle of fame. But Anton 
Mesmer is no exception to human procedures in every case, where the 
mind leaps before its age. Slowly but surely, the world recognises its 
benefactors, though it may be too late to return their benefits. To those 
who believe that the immortal spirit is the real man, acknowledgment of 
blessings received, will never seem too late, even if they are only sped by 
grateful memory and the pen of posterity, across the pathless realms 
which separate men from the land of ascended spirits. 

In considering the life, work, and influence of Dr. Mesmer, it would 
seem as if he had been providentially born and prepared for the part he 
was destined to fill in the history of human progress. 

Even in his'*eighth year, he would absent himself from home and school, 
to trace up the source of streams, and wander far to collect stones, shells, 
and minerals, which he would pore over with strange and unchildlike 
interest. 

Educated as a physician, he took his degree as a doctor of medicine, at 
the Vienna University, where he attracted universal attention by the curious 
nature of his inaugural thesis, the subject of which was, "The influence of 
the planets on the human body." 

During his residence at Vienna, he became acquainted with the professor 
of astronomy at the University, Father Hehl, a learned Jesuit, who claimed 
to be the inventor of certain steel plates, in which he could conserve the 
virtues of the magnet, so as to apply them successfully to the cure of disease. 

Whatever might have been the original merit of Father Hehl's discovery, 
his friend Mesmer soon improved upon it, and by his own superadded 
methods, produced such astonishing results in the cure of diseases, that he 
excited the spirit of rivalry, not only in the mind of his form.er friend, but 
also in the entire medical faculty of Vienna. 

The strife thus commenced was fanned into fury by Mesmer's continued 
successes, and though the machinations of his enemies ultimately obliged 
him to quit the city, opposition only had the effect of stimulating him to 
fresh energy in pursuing his path of discovery ; in fact, from the time when, 
in 1772, his attention was first called to the curative effects of the magnet, 
up to the date of his death, in 18 15, he never ceased to study, improve in, 
and practise the art of healing, which has been justly called, after its great 
discoverer, " Mesmerism." 

In his new mode of practice. Dr. Mesmer's earliest efforts were directed 
towards the utilization of the magnet, and his first cures were effected by 
the aid of magnetic machines, together with a baqtiet or bath, in which 
various mineral substances, immersed in water, were brought into connection 
with his patients. In a very short time, Mesmer discovered that which he 
had previously assumed, namely, that the chief virtue in his experiments 
resided in his own organism. It was from the point when he commenced 
the application of magnetic passes with his own hands, and found that he 



lo NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

could transfer the life principle from himself to his patients, under the 
direction of his will, that his system obtained the now familiar name of 
" animal magnetism." Our purpose js not to write the biography of Anton 
Mesmer; we simply aim to point out the gradations of unfoldment, by 
which the true knowledge of occult life forces was obtained. This stupen- 
dous result does not appear to have been known to, or anticipated by 
Mesmer, although it undoubtedly became familiar to many of his followers. 
The extent of this great man's discoveries, and the theorems upon which he 
based his whole system, are succinctly described by one of his most 
eminent biographers, Dr. Justinius Kerner, from whose admirable work, 
" The Life of Mesmer," we shall epitomize the summary of his views in 
the following chapter. 



CHAPTER II. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY (CONTINUED). 

Dr. Anton Mesmer. 

Jn the London Spiritual Magazine, Mr. Wm. Howitt, one of its ablest 
and most constant contributors, gives a series of papers translated from Dr. 
Kerner's life of Mesmer, from which the following extracts are taken : — 

" During his fifteen years medical practice in Vienna, Mesmer came upon his new 
art of heahng through observing the origin and career of diseases in connection with 
the great changes in our solar system and the universe ; in short, with what he termed 
' Universal Magnetism.' He sought for this magnetism originally in electricity and 

subsequently in mineral magnetism It was after this manner Mesmer 

reasoned. There must exist a power which permeates the universe and binds toge- 
ther all bodies upon earth ; and it must be possible for man to bring this influence 
under his command. 

" This power he first sought for in the magnet. He then pondered upon it in 
regard to man and applied it successfully to the cure of the sick. This remarkable- 
result would, in any other investigator, have brought him to the end of his experi- 
ments. Not so with Mesmer. Ever accompanied by the idea of a primal power, 
which must pervade the universe, the thought occurred to him that the influence 
must exist yet more powerfully in man than in the magnet. . . He thus perceived 
that he could not ascribe alone to the magnet which he held in his hands the efi'ects 
produced, since he must also, in his turn, influence the magnet. 

'■Upon this, he cast aside his magnet, and with his hands alone, brought forth 
similar and unadulterated effects." 

Seifert, another of Mesmer's biographers, affirms that he wore beneath 
his vest a shirt of leather, Hned with silk, to prevent the escape of the 
magnetic fluid. 

He also believed that Mesmer wore magnets about his person, with a 
view of strengthening his own magnetism. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. ii 

The following description is given by Seifert of the Baquet which 
Mesmer used in the early days of his magnetic practice — 

"This receptacle was a large pan, tub, or pool of water, filled with various 
magnetic substances, such as water, sand, stone, glass bottles (filled with magnetic 
water), &c. It was a focus within which the magnetism was concentrated, and out of 
which proceeded a number of conductors. These being bent pointed iron wands, 
one end was retained in the baquet, whilst the other was connected with the 
patient and applied to the seat of the disease. This arrangement might be made use 
of by any number of persons seated round the baquet, and thus a fountain, or any 
receptacle in a garden, as in a room, would answer for the purpose desired." 

mesmer's theorems. 

The following summary of the twenty-seven theorems which Mesmer 
published when the French Academy refused to indorse his discovery, are 
taken from Memoire sur la Decouverte du Magnetisme Animal^ par 
M. Mesmer. Paris, 1779= — 

" Animal magnetism is a fluid universally diffused. 

" It is the medium of a mutual influence between the heavenly bodies, the earth, 
and animated bodies. 

" It is continuous, so as to leave no void. Its subtility admits of no comparison, 

" It is capable of receiving, propagating, and communicating all the impressions of 
motion. It is susceptible of flux and reflux. 

" The animal body experiences the effect of this agent by insinuating itself into the 
substance of the nerves — it afl"ects them immediately. 

" There are observed, particularly in the human body, properties analogous to 
those of the magnet, and in it are observed poles equally different and opposite. 

'' The action and the virtues of animal magnetism, may be communicated from one 
body to other bodies, animate and inanimate. 

" This action may take place at a remote distance, without the aid of any inter- 
mediate body. 

"It is increased, reflected by mirrors; communicated, propagated, augmented hyO 
sound. Its virtues may be accumulated, concentrated, transported. 

" Although this fluid is universal, all animal bodies are not equally susceptible of 
it. There are even some — though a very small number — which have properties so 
opposite, that their very presence destroys all the effects of this fluid on other bodies. 

''Animal magnetism is capable of healing diseases of the nerves immediately, and 
others mediately. 

" It perfects the action of medicines, excites and directs salutary crises in such a 
manner, that the physician may render himself master of them. By its means, he may 
know the state of each individual's health, judge the most complicated diseases, 
prevent their increase, and heal them without dangerous efi"ects or troublesome con- 
sequences, whatever be the age, sex, or temperament of the patient. 

" In animal magnetism, nature presents an universal method of healing and pre- 
serving mankind." . . . 

Nothing in the history of the race is more admirably illustrative of 
providential methods, than the succession of steps through which great ideas 
are perfected, from their inception to their fruitage. 

Thus it is that we find the grand discovery of Mesmer, interpreting the 
dreams of the mystics concerning the " Philosopher's Stone " and " Elixir 
Vitse " ; illustrating the theories of Galileo and Newton, and converting the 
universal realm of gravitation which they perceived, into the soul-force of 
the universe, which could "be made the instrument of annihilating disease 
and indefinitely extending the life of man. But though Mesmer capped 
the climax of philosophic research in the direction of blind, non-intelligent 
forces, his powers of observation extended no farther. He himself per- 
ceived that there were unknown realms of knowledge yet to be traversed ; 



12 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

and that as the element with which he was attempting to deal, was itself 
illimitable, so the paths of ~ new discovery must also be boundless. It has 
often been urged that Mesmer dared not advance to the verification of the 
hypotheses which he perceived — let us grant this — still it must be remem- 
bered that it was his bold hand which opened the temple door of life 
FORCES ; also, that the great discoverer laboured at first alone and 
unaided j and when at last he succeeded in drawing round him a cordon 
of sympathetic minds, he had to bear the brunt of all the persecution, 
scorn, and even martyrdom, which ignorance and bigotry ever launch 
against the pioneers of new ideas and progress. 

In process of time, the very bitterness of the denunciations that were 
visited upon the discoverer of animal magnetism, wrought their usual effect 
of provoking general investigation, and winning over numerous converts to 
the new system of cure. 

Amongst the most enthusiastic of Mesmer's early followers, was the 
Marquis de Puysegur, a wealthy and influential nobleman of Strasbourg, 
who, in carrying out the instructions of the great mesmerist, chanced to 
hit upon the still more remarkable and interesting sequence of clair- 
voyance, evolved through the mesmeric sleep. 

At first, the discovery of a highly-exalted intelligential state in connection 
with somnambulism, was so amazing to M. de Puysegur, that he was 
' inclined to suppose the principle of cure itself, must result from the effect 
of magnetism upon the spirit. Like Mesmer, he immediately began to put 
forth theories in this direction, and, like Mesmer, he lived to realise that 
he had as yet attained only to the first glimmering of truth on these 
wonderful and occult subjects. 

Puyslgur's views upon the new discovery, as being connected with 
phenomena of the most curious and interesting nature, soon began to 
supersede those of Mesmer, and amongst his most devoted adherents, he 
had the good fortune to include the celebrated Lavater, through whose 
talents and influence, many other persons of eminence were attracted to the 
marquis's experiments. 

Thus it happened, that after the noble-minded Mesmer had laid his 
theory before the French Academy of Sciences, only to find it scornfully 
rejected, he returned to Germany, to experience neglect and ingratitude, 
and find the laurels he had so justly earned, already encircling the brow of 
another. The truth is, Puys6gur's experiments challenged from all 
observers, the deepest and most absorbing attention. 

Mesmer seems to have been aware that sleep-waking intelligence was 
not unfrequently a result of animal magnetism, but he affirmed this state 
was full of danger, and he not only steadily discountenanced the practice of 
deepening the magnetic sleep into waking trance, but he bitterly opposed 
the new sect formed by Puysegur, and disclaimed all alliance with his 
followers. 

It might have been partly as the result of this feud, and partly in con- 
temptible subservience to the opinions of the French savants, that the name 
of Mesmer, was for a time almost tabooed from the literature of the subject, 
and it became fashionable to speak of, and investigate the wonders of 
"Somnambulism," but carefully to avoid all allusion to the unpopular 
theme of animal magnetism. 

Time, the immutable touchstone of truth, has at length rendered justice 
to all sides of this vexed question. Puysegur, Barberini, Kerner, Cahagnet, 
Dupotet, Deleuze, and all who have written on, or experimented with these 



1 




^r^^:::^:^. 



Mesmer 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 13 

wondrous occult life forces, have each had their day, commanded the fickle 
mind of the populace for the time being, and aided in compelling the world 
to acknowledge the facts which were being daily enacted. 

Even the verdict of the French Academy has done a work for truth, by 
proving the incapacity of stereotyped associations to deal with matters out- 
side the groov^es laid down for their own action. In the mean time, the 
rival claims of Mesmer's various followers, have all been merged in the 
value of the great fundamental discovery of a demonstrable vital force, and 
the possibility of its utilization and transfer, as originally proved by Mesmer. 
Every other name takes rank — where it justly belongs — as secondary to 
his. Animal magnetism, and all the marvels which follow in its train, are 
now synonymous with the equally popular term, " Mesmerism," and the 
founder of the system, silently but inevitably, takes his place in the annals 
of fame, as the true alchemist, who discovered and applied to the use of 
humanity, the " Philosopher's Stone," and the " Elixir Vitae." 



CHAPTER III. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY (CONTINUED). 
The Philosopher's Stone in Action. 

During Mesmer's visit to Paris, and pending his efforts to obtain recog- 
nition for his new curative process from the French Academy of Sciences, 
he drew around him many interested followers, amongst whom was 
M. d'Eslon, a physician of great eminence. This gentleman, who was 
highly enthusiastic in his adherence to the new science, during Mesmer's 
absence from Paris conducted experiments himself, with more eclat than 
skill, and more display than judgment. 

It was under the advice of d'Eslon that Mesmer was induced to 
challenge the French Academicians, and urge them to investigate the 
working of " animal magnetism." It was also by aid of his indomitable 
energy, that the new methods of cure retained their hold upon the popular 
mind after the unfavourable verdict of the savants had condemned it. 

M. Bailly, the French astronomer, justly celebrated in his particular sphere 
of knowledge, but wholly incapable of pronouncing upon psychological 
phenomena, was one of those, whose opinions were most adverse to the 
claims of Mesmer. He gives the following account of the methods pursued 
by d'Eslon 3 we quote them here, to show how purely physical they were, 
and how thoroughly they disregarded all those conditions, which we now 
beUeve to be essential to the production of psychological phenomena. 
Bailly says ; — 

' ' The sick persons, arranged in great numbers, and in several rows around the 
baquet (bath), received the magnetism by means of the iron rods, which conveyed it 
to them from the baquet by the cords wound round their bodies, by the thumb which 
connected them with their neighbours, and by the sounds of a pianoforte, or an 
agreeable voice, diffusing magnetism in the air. 



14 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" The patients were also directly magnetised by means of the finger and wand of 
the magnetiser, moved slowly before their faces, above or behind their heads, or on 
the diseased parts. 

" The magnetiser acts also by fixing his eyes on the subjects ; by the application of 
his hands on the region of the solar plexus ; an application which sometimes continues 
for hours. 

"Meanwhile the patients present a very varied picture. 

'' Some are calm, tranquil, and experience no effect. Others cough and spit, fee 
pains, heat, or perspiration. Others, again, are convulsed. 

" As soon as one begins to be convulsed, it is remarkable that others are imme- 
diately affected. 

" The Commissioners have observed some of these convulsions last more than three 
hours. They are often accompanied with expectorations of a violent character, often 
streaked with blood. The convulsions are marked with involuntary motions of the 
throat, limbs, and sometimes the whole body ; by dimness of the eyes, shrieks, sobs, 
laughter, and the wildest hysteria. These states are often followed by langour and 
depression. The smallest noise appears to aggravate the symptoms, and often to 
occasion shudderings and terrible cries. It was noticeable that a sudden change in 
the air or time of the music had a great influence on the patients, and soothed or 
accelerated the convulsions, stimulating them to ecstacy, or moving them to floods of 
tears. 

" Nothing is more astonishing than the spectacle of these convulsions. 

" One who has not seen them can form no idea of them. The spectator is as 
much astonished at the profound repose of one portion of the patients as at the agita- 
tion of the rest. 

■' Some of the patients may be seen rushing towards each other with open arms, 
and manifesting every symptom of attachment and affection. 

" All are under the power of the magaetizer ; it matters not what state of drowsi- 
ness they maybe in, the sound of his voice, a look, a motion of his hands, spasmodi- 
cally affects them.* 

Let it be remembered that besides the official investigations of the 
Commissioners, numerous private experiments were instituted separately 
amongst them, the result of which brought conviction to their minds at 
least, that "hysteria, and imagination," not animal magnetism, as an actual 
force, were the sources of the effects they observed. 

Dr. Mackay, LL.D., in his work on "Popular Delusions," says : — ■ 

"The report of the Commissioners was drawn up by the unfortunate and 
illustrious Bailly. After detailing the experiments made, and their results, they 
came to the conclusion that the only proof advanced in support of ' animal magnetism' 
was its effects on the human body ; that those effects could be produced without 
magnetic passes or manipulations, and that s^ich effects never transpired without the 
patient's knowledge, hence, that imagination did, and animal magnetism did not, account 
for all that transpired." 

In justice to the cause of truth it should be observed, that none of that 
intelligence which often accompanies somnambulic states, such as clair- 
voyance, &c., seems to have been manifested before the French savants. 
Possibly the heterogeneous character of the assemblage organised by 
d'Eslon, forbade the unfoldment of psychological phenomena, or any of those 
curative results which had been claimed for Mesmer's practice. When these 
disadvantageous concomitants are borne in mind — and we remember the 
effect produced upon modern witnesses by the spasmodic jerks, gasps, shud- 
derings, &c., not unfrequently exhibited in nineteenth century spirit circles, 
our astonishment at the imbecility of the verdict pronounced against 
animal magnetism by the French Academicians may be considerably 
modified, indeed we may wish we had a few of those illustrious observers 
present to criticise the reports so freely and unconditionally published 
to-day, as " notes of spiritualistic phenomena" 

* Kapporte des Commissionaires. Redige par M. Bailly, Paris, 1734. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 15 

The chief difficulty in sifting and describing occult phenomena was then, 
and is now, the distinction between mere nervous irritability and the genuine 
effect produced in the physical system by magnetism, or upon the mind by 
the psychological impress of a second mind, no matter whether that be by a 
disembodied or embodied operator. 

The force which can change a diseased tissue into a healthy one must be 
a genuine, substantial element, and the transmission of thought from one 
mind to another, so as to enable an entranced subject to render such 
intelligence as is wholly foreign to that subject's previous knowledge, is an 
objective proof of an outside power from which no candid observer can 
dissent. 

Tt does not appear, from a careful study of M. Bailly's report, that any 
such testimony was afforded. Tears, laughter, hysteria, and convulsions 
were prominent amongst the effects produced, and these were naturally 
enough deemed by superficial observers, to be the result of foreknowledge 
amongst the patients, who, in a state of expectancy, might quite as well 
have been under the influence of excited imagination as animal magnetism. 
It is scarcely to be wondered at therefore, that mesmeric experiments 
conducted on the crude and wholesale methods described by Bailly, 
produced no results that might not have been readily ascribed to the 
influence of diseased imaginations. 

Had no other methods been practised by Mesmer himself in the treat- 
ment of private patients, his reputation would never have survived the 
shock produced by d'Eslon's injudicious exhibitions. 

But more fortunate results did attend Mesmer's practice, and the many 
remarkable cures he was knoAvn to have effected, served in some degree to 
counteract the injurious report of the French Academy. 

Still more productive of sensational public interest were the phenomena 
evolved by the magnetic experiments of M. de Puys6gur. 

According to Dr. Mackay's statement in his sketch of the French 
Magnetizers, M. de Puys^gur's discovery of the sleep-waking state in 
connection with animal magnetism, appears to have resulted more from 
accident than design. 

Mackay says : — 

" The Marquis de Puysegur had one day magnetized his gardener, and observing 
that he had fallen into a very profound sleep, it occurred to him to address questions 
to him as he would have done to a natural somnambulist. To his great delight, the 
man answered him with such surprising lucidity, that he was encouraged to renew his 
experiments, when he found that tlie soul of the speaker was enlarged, and brought into 
more intimate connexion with the hidden things of life and nature, and with himself, 
M. de Puysegur. Very soon too, he discovered that all farther manipulations were 
needless. 

'■ Without speaking or making a sign, he could mentally impart his will to the 
patient ; in fact, he could converse with him soul to soul, without the employment of 
any physical methods whatever." 

M. de Puysegur, who was evidently feeling his way blindly along the new 
path of occult force, also discovered, that he coald impart his own magnetic 
power to inanimate objects, which, thus charged, would re-act upon those 
brought into contact with them. Thus, in order to reserve as much as 
possible the mysterious power with which he felt himself possessed, he 
proceeded to magnetize a tree, in contact with which he claimed, that any 
number of patients could receive all the benefit which could be imparted 
by personal manipulations. 



1 6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Now, although the unthinking "great public" were of course sufficiently 
prompt to cast all manner of derision upon M. de Puysegur's "magical 
tree," and "the man with the enlarged soul," even the most ill-natured 
criticisms could not disguise the fact that veritable results of healing and 
clairvoyance were evolved. M. Dupotet's Histoire de Magnetisme bears 
witness to the multitude of remarkable cures effected by Puysegur, whilst 
his one clairvoyant soon multiplied into vast numbers, from whose entranced 
lips the most marvellous results of lucidity were constantly obtained. 
Writing of his first and most celebrated " lucid," the Marquis says, in letters 
to his friend, M. Cloquet, the Receiver of Finance, and one of his great 
sympathisers : — 

" It is from this simple man that I receive the wisest counsel and the most prudent 
directions in all great emergencies. Himself one of the most ignorant rustics of the 
country, in the magnetic sleep he is a peasant no longer. A being who awake, can 
scarcely utter a sentence, commonplace, illiterate and timid, when magnetized he is a 
poet, philosopher, and physician. I need not speak either. I have only to think 
Ijefore him and he instantly understands and answers me." 

Much more of the same nature M. de Puysegur pours forth concerning 
his clairvoyants, but as the powers then deemed so extraordinary, are now 
familiar enough to the reader, it would be unnecessary to pursue these 
quotations farther. Whilst the Marquis de Puysegur was making converts 
in every direction, by his wonderful somnambulists, a magnetizer of a still 
higher tone appeared on the scene in the person of the Chevalier de Bar- 
berini, a gentleman of Lyons, whose magnetic processes, associated with 
prayer, produced results even more extraordinary than the clairvoyants of 
Puysegur. The Chevaher de Barberini magnetized his subjects both by 
manipulations and will, but in most instances, the effects he produced, threw 
the patients into that state now known as trance and ecstasy. Visions of 
the most exalted character followed. The "lucids" described scenes and 
persons in the other world ; traversed the regions of disembodied souls, 
and only returned to earth reluctantly, to relate their aerial flights to won- 
dermg listeners, and describe to bereaved mourners, the apparitions of 
friends who had long since passed beyond the grave. The Continental 
Miscellany and Eoreign Review, describes "The New Sect of Bar- 
berinists," and affirms that in Sweden and Germany, where they were very 
numerous, "these fanatics were called Spiritualists, to distinguish them 
from the followers of M. de Puysegur, who were termed Experimentalists J' 
In this miscellany an account of the magnetic state by one of the subjects, 
is given in these words : — 

"In such an one, animal instinct ascends to the highest degree admissible in this 
world. The clairvoyant is then similar to God : his eye penetrates all the secrets of 
nature ; in spirit, he sees through all space ; friends, enemies, spirits. He sees all 
actions, penetrates into all causes; he becomes a physician, a prophet, a divine.'' 

■ We shall now proceed to consider the final results achieved by Mesmer 
and his followers in Germany. In such a review we may regard Mesmer, 
Puysegur, Barberini, and their various adherents, as so many index fingers 
pointing on the well-defined path which leads the investigator through the 
newly discovered fields of occult force ; from mineral to animal magnetism ; 
from their effects upon the body to those of the nerves, soul, and spirit ; 
from the clairvoyant flights of the spirit upon earth to the life beyond, and 
into realms of being, peopled by spirits with spiritual entities. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 17 

From the time of Mesmer up to the present date, the practices of the 
Mesmerists have been continuous, and the results, though variable with the 
characteristics both of operators and subjects, may be classified after the 
following manner : — 

1. We have unmistakable effects produced in the physical organism, 
sometimes modifying, and at others curing diseases of various types. 

2. Magnetized subjects, when questioned during their sleep, sometimes 
describe their own states ; prescribe remedies of a more effective nature 
than their physicians could do for them, and occasionally delineate the 
nature of disease, and prescribe remedies for others. 

3. Some magnetic subjects can describe distant scenes, objects, and 
persons ; traverse space spiritually, find lost property, and occasionally, 
describe past and future events ; speak in languages they have not studied, 
play on instruments of which they have had no previous knowledge, and 
exhibit other supra-mundane powers. 

4. The magnetized subject not unfrequently quits the realms of earth 
and descends into dark spheres, and ascends into bright ones inhabited 
by spiritual beings, the descriptions of whom, correspond perfectly with the 
identity of those who have once been known as dwellers on earth. 

5. Besides the effects proceeding as above described from magnetic 
manipulations, thousands of instances are recorded of persons manifesting 
one or more, and sometimes all the phenomena described in these speci- 
fications, without the agency of any human magnetizer at all. As these 
persons have claimed that they were under the control of a Spiritual 
magnetizer, or a soul who had once inhabited the human form, and as the 
phenomena they exhibited, paralleled in all respects those evolved by the 
agency of a human magnetizer, the conclusion is inevitable, that the Spirit 
of the magnetizer, when disembodied, can produce the same effects as 
when on earth, and that those who are susceptible to animal magnetism, may 
become equally receptive of the same influence, projected by a Spiritual 
magnetizer. Finally, it is proved, that a certain class of individuals are not 
receptive to the influence of magnetism at all, whflst others are by 
predisposition, operators rather than subjects; and others again, erect 
psychological barriers of dislike or antagonism to the whole subject, thereby 
actively repelling the influence. It has also been demonstrated that, whilst 
some magnetized subjects cannot attain to more than one, two, or three of 
the states above specified, others may attain to them all ; thus the several 
states may be recognized as degrees to which differently constituted subjects 
attain, by laws at present but little known or understood by man. 

Experience has shown, that the presence of disease, which at one stage 
of the enquiry was deemed a necessary element for the receptivity of 
magnetic influence, is now only one of its contingents ; hundreds of robust 
and healthful persons having exhibited all the phases of somnambuUc 
power above described, both with human and spiritual magnetizers. 

It will appear evident, that in these successive states, we first trace out 
what effects animal magnetism can produce when both operator and 
subject are mortals, and next, show that precisely the same results are 
obtained when the operator is a spirit and the subject only is a mortal. 
Whilst spirits, from their superior conditions of knowledge, can effect more 
wonderful results by magnetism and psychology than mortals, we may 
assure ourselves that the modus operandi is in each case one and the same 
thing. Magnetic subjects are the mediums for spirits still in the body, and 
mediums are the subjects of spirits out of the body. The one is the 
2 



1 8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

stepping-stone to the other. Animal magnetism is the body of the science ; 
spiritual magnetism the soul; but as animal magnetism most generally 
prepares the organism of the subject for the reception of the higher and 
more subtle force of spiritual magnetism, so it is evident, that the univer- 
sality with which animal magnetism has been practised all over the civilised 
world, during the last century, has prepared the organisms of multitudes 
of susceptible persons for the influx of spiritual magnetism, besides 
stimulating and preparing the minds of men for the unfoldment of occult 
phenomena. In this view of the question, the great alchemist, Anton 
Mesmer, may well be regarded as the human founder of the New Spiritual 
Dispensation ; whilst the work he has effected has already advanced from 
matter to force, from thence to mind, and from mind again onward to 
spirit, and realms of purely spiritual existence. 



AUTHOR'S DEFINITION OF BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT. 
Body — Matter. Soul — Force. Spirit — Intelligence. 

Man — a Trinity of Body, Soul, and Spirit. 

A Spirit from the earth spheres — a duality of Soul and Spirit. 

An Angel from the celestial heavens — Pure Spirit. 

(Teachings of some Oriental occultists.) 



CHAPTER IV. 



spiritualism in GERMANY (continued). 

Wonderful Narratives by Dr. Justinius Kerner. 

Amongst the most important contributions to modern German spiritual 
literature are the writings of Dr. Justinius Kerner, especially a volume 
published in 1834, entitled " Geschichten Besessener neurerer Zeif." 

This work contains numerous narratives of what is commonly called 
"obsession," but what the learned writer uncompromisingly designates as 
" Demoniacal Possession.^'' 

Taking the ground that all haunting spirits have once inhabited the 
human form. Dr. Kerner throws an immense flood of light upon the dark 
regions of " supernaturalism," proving conclusively the modes in which 
unhappy earth-bound spirits afflict mediumistic sensitives, and by their 
strange and repulsive acts of possession, give rise to the frightful superstitions 
that have heretofore been called "Witchcraft and Diabolism." 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 19 

Many of the cases narrated by Dr. Kerner came immediately under his 
own supervision. 

It was to his residence, that the afflicted peasant Grombach brought his 
unfortunate daughter Magdalene, a young girl who, from the weird notoriety 
obtained by her state of obsession, was named in the records of the time, 
"The Maid of Orlach." Of this case we must now give some details, as 
they afford a striking evidence of the difficulties which attend the investi- 
gation of psychological phenomena, unless it be understood that spirits can 
control susceptible human beings magnetically as well as mortals. 

Kerner's narrative, considerably condensed, is as follows : — 

" In the small village of Orlach, in Wurtemburg, lived a peasant named Grombach. 
He was a good Lutheran Protestant, and an honest, respectable man. He had four 
children, of whom his daughter, Magdalene — a lively, healthy, industrious girl — was 
one. In February, 1831, strange disturbances began to occur in the cow-house. 
The cows were found tied up in unusual ways and places. Sometimes their tails 
would be found plaited all together, and that with as much skill as if the finest lace 
weaver had executed the work. For some weeks these occurrences were repeated, 
but the most incessant watchfulness could never detect any human agency at work. 
About this time, Magdalene, whilst sitting milking, received a smart box on the ear, 
and her cap was struck off with so much violence, by invisible hands, that it flew 
against her father, who was attracted towards her by her cry. On several occasions, 
strange cats and birds came and went in the cow-house, no one knew from whence 
or whither. 

"On the 8th of February, 1832, whilst Magdalene and her brother were cleaning 
out the cow-house, a clear fire was suddenly found to be burning in it. No com- 
bustible matter whatever was known to have been near the building ; and though 
the flames were soon extinguished by the help of the neighbours, the origin of the 
fire was entirely unknown. 

"The sudden bursting out of flames was repeated on the gth, loth and nth of 
February, until — at the urgent request of Grombach — watchers were stationed in and 
around the premises day and night, notwithstanding which, flames broke out in 
different parts of the dwelling, obliging the poor family to empty it of all furniture ; 
still the burning continued from time to time in the dismantled cottage. 

"A few days after the last burning, Magdalene saw in the cow-shed, about eight 
in the evening, the grey shadowy form of a woman, whose head and body appeared 
closely swathed. Before she had time to cry for help, the figure said to her — in a 
strange, distant, though clear voice — ' Remove the house ; remove the house ! If it 
be not removed before the 5th of March of next year, great misfortune will befal you. 
The house has been set on fire by an evil spirit ; but unless it be pulled down before 
the 5th of March next year, I cannot protect you from great misfortune. Promise 
that the house shall be destroyed." 

" The girl, who seems to have rallied under the sense of a benign and protecting 
influence in this apparition, gave a promise to that effect. Grombach and his son 
were present at this interview. They heard Magdalene's words, and the sound of 
some distant voice as if in conversation with her, but they could neither distinguish 
what was said nor did they see the apparition. From this time, the female spirit 
frequently appeared to Magdalene, and always brought with her a sense of strange 
strength and protection. Magdalene loved her, and conversed with her without the 
slightest sentiment of fear. The spirit said she had been born at Orlach, in 1412 ; 
that she had been made a nun against her will, and had been guilty of many crimes, 
of which she could not then speak. She seemed very religious, but very sorrowful. 
She could read the girl's thoughts, but refused to tell why the house should be pulled 
down, or what was the cause of her grief. She often referred to a ' black spirit,' 
by whom she was bound in some mysterious way, and alleged that he was endeavour- 
ing to work great evil to the family, which she desired to prevent. This ' white spirit,' 
as Magdalene called her, often foretold events truly, and manifested a tender interest 
in all that concerned Magdalene. 

" On St. John's day, when all the family were at church except Magdalene, who 
remained at home to prepare the dinner, she was startled by a loud explosion in the 
cow-house. She was about to rush out to see what had occurred, when she beheld 
close to her, on the hearth, a heap of yellow frogs. 

" She was on the point of gathering them up in her apron, as a curiosity to show her 



20 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

parents on their return, when she heard a voice seeming to call up to her from the 
ground, ' Magdalene, let the frogs go,' when instantly they vanished. 

" After this, a terrible time of persecution ensued. Magdalene was pursued every- 
where by voices, scornful laughter, and frightful apparitions of animals of different 
kinds. 

" At length, in mid-day, whilst she was haymaking, she encountered the apparition 
of a black man, who said to her, ' What does she want who comes to thee ? Do not 
thou speak to her ; but speak to me, and I will give thee the key to the cellar beneath 
thy house. There are eight firkins of wine there, and many rich things.' Then he 
laughed contemptuously and vanished. For several days during the season of hay- 
making, this black spirit appeared to the girl, trying to tempt her to answer him, and 
threatening her with all sorts of woes if she conversed any more with the white spirit, 
whom he spoke of as that ' bag of bones.' He tried to induce her to have mass said 
to keep the weather fine, though Magdalene and her family were all Protestants. He 
seemed to be dressed as a monk, and often alleged that he was one. He could 
imitate the voices of her neighbours, and often did so to induce her to answer him when 
he called her, but she was always conscious of his presence and mockery, and by the 
advice of her ' white angel ' never answered him. He often jeered about her old 
father carrying a bible with him, and told her 'the mass was much finer and grander.' 

" No language can do justice to the persecutions which the poor girl suffered from 
this terrible spirit. His voice was frequently heard by others as well as herself, 
mimicking the tones of her family or friends, and always calling upon her for answers : 
but her peculiar sensitiveness enabled her so to distinguish his voice, that she never 
answered him. He often predicted the future truly, and on one occasion promised to 
give her some money in proof of his friendship. The next evening, Magdalene and 
her sister being in the cow-house, a small bag fell suddenly from a beam, and on 
opening it they discovered several thalers and eleven gulden. No one could give any 
account of how the money came there, or who owned it. In the evening of the next 
day, the white spirit told Magdalene that her persecutor had placed the money there 
in fulfilment of one of his promises, but that she must not keep it, but give it to 
various charities. 

" The spirit then added, that she should be rewarded for her obedience by having 
money really given her, with which she advised her to bYiy a hymn book. The day 
after this interview, Magdalene, with her father, hastened to the town of Hall to dis- 
pose of the money to the orphanage, and as she returned she was accosted by a shop- 
keeper, who enquired if she were not the wonderful peasant girl of whom he had 
heard so much. 

" Magdalene modestly informed him of her name, when he begged her acceptance 
of a gulden to buy a new hymn book with." 

Many incidents of this kind are given in Kerner's narrative, showing the 
singular and antagonistic intelligences by which the young girl was besieged. 

" At length her persecutor appeared to her in such frightful and monstrous shapes, 
that she frequently swooned from excessive fear, and it was in one of these cataleptic 
attacks that a new and most distressing phase of her enemy's power was made mani- 
fest. The girl affirmed, that a black and frightful monster would come and lay a cold 
icy hand on the back of her neck previous to the attacks, which now became frequent. 
Sometimes she would remain unconscious, cold, and rigid for hours. At others, she 
would strike violently at everyone who approached her, with the left hand and 
foot, which were icy cold, whilst the entire right side of her body was warm and 
quiescent. 

" Her parents sent for doctors and clergymen, but all without effect. When ques- 
tioned she would cry out, ' The black spirit ! it is he that plagues me.' ' Where is 
he then ? ' the doctor would enquire ; for answer, she would invariably strike at her 
left side with her right hand. That some most inexplicable but powerful effect was 
produced in the girl's system, all the reports of the medical men who were called in 
to attend her testify. Generally, the left side was cold, stiff, and unmanageable ; the 
right warm, and perfectly natural. These states increased in strangeness and violence 
as the year progressed, until at last, according to her own account, the black spirit 
would enter her lifeless body, and cause her to rise up and speak in a hoarse bass 
voice, language thaf was only worthy of a demon. 

" The doctors who were first called to attend her, treated her according to their 
custom with bleeding and leeches. In her somnambulic states she would frequently 
say to them, 'This will do no good. I am not ill. No physician can help me.' It 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 21 

was asked, ' Who then can help thee ? ' Then she would awake suddenly, and 
joyfully cry, ' I am helped ; the white lady has helped me.' '' 

Dr. Kerner's report on this extraordinary case seems free from the 
exaggerated horrors of other narrators; yet his descriptions are sufficiently 
appalUng. We quote his own words Hterally in the following statements. 

"From this time" — about the 25th of August — "the white spirit told her in 
connection with many comforting texts of Scripture, that the black spirit must for 
a time gain full possession of her body, but that she would always be with her and 
conduct her soul to a place of safety, whilst the black spirit remained. 

" Magdalene's own account of her frightful persecution was this : — She would see, 
even in the midst of her work, the outline of a monk's form, clothed in black ; the 
face she could never clearly discern. Then she would hear him say, 'Wilt thou still 
give me no answer ? Take care, I shall plague thee.' Then she would feel him press 
against her left side, and seize the back of her neck with five cold fingers. 

" This was always her last conscious memory. From this time, she only spoke with 
the hoarse man's voice, and demoniacal speech of her tormentor. Generally, she 
lay with a face as livid as death — her eyes closed, the pupils when examined turned 
inwards, and the left foot and hand constantly moving up and down or extended to 
strike or menace. These attacks lasted from four to five hours, and on awakening a 
struggle of an extraordinary character would appear to ensue between her right and 
left sides. It must be noticed that the left side was always icy cold, though in 
constant motion, whilst the right was warm and quiescent. 

" She never seemed to have any knowledge of the language used on these occasions, 
but would declare that she had been to church, and prayed and sung with the 
congregation. 

"After this condition had lasted five months without alleviation, at my request, 
the poor girl was brought to my house, 

"Whatever I might myself have thought, I never encouraged the idea to her 
parents, or the various physicians who examined her case, of 'demoniacal possession.' 

'' Still I felt compelled to pronounce her sufferings beyond the ordinary means of 
relief from medical treatment, 

' ' I only prescribed for her myself, prayer, and spare diet. The magnetic passes 
which on a few occasions I tried to make, were immediately neutralized by the 
demoniacal power which impelled her to make counter-passes with her own hand. 

" Thus mesmeric, and indeed every other mode of treatment, were unemployed by 
me, who recognized in her a demoniacal magnetic condition, and confided in the divina- 
tion of the white spirit, who foretold her recovery on the 5th of March. 

" Thus believing, I allowed her without anxiety, to return to her parents, convinced 
by long and careful observation, that there was not the slightest shadow of dissimu- 
lation about the young girl, nor was it possible to exaggerate the extraordinary, and 
obvious character of her attacks. I earnestly advised the parents to make no exhibi- 
tion of their daughter's preternatural condition ; to keep her attacks as secret as 
possible, and call no one in to witness them. I believe it was not owing to any 
negligence on the part of the parents, to whom their daughter's condition was a 
great loss, as well as a serious affliction, but to the curiosity of the outer world, that 
crowds of inquisitive people streamed to the hitherto unknown village of Orlach, to 
see and hear the miraculous girl. In this, there was at least one good result, which 
was, the observation and testimony of so many astonished witnesses. 

"One of these was an intelligent and scientific man, Pastor Gerber, who saw 
Magdalene in several of her attacks, and printed his observations on her case in the 
Didaskalia. 

" On the 4th of March, whilst workmen were in course of pulling down the house, 
as the white spirit had incessantly commanded, that apparition suddenly stood 
before Magdalene. This time she was so radiant, and attired in such dazzling white 
robes, that the poor girl could scarcely dare to look upon her. She made a confession 
of her earthly sins through Magdalene's lips, alleging that she had been seduced by 
a monk, the ' black spirit,' and become the partner of his fearful crimes. She spoke 
through the entranced lips of Magdalene, of her centuries of suffering, penitence, 
firm reliance on the atonement of her Saviour, and the final termination of her long 
and weary penance. After a most affecting and ecstatic prayer, the White Spirit left 
her, and for the last time as it seemed she was possessed bodily by her foul tor- 
mentor. . . . From Sunday night until Tuesday at noon, the girl took no food, and 
remained unchanged, with the same signs of demoniacal possession before described. 



2 2 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

During the Tuesday, an immense multitude assembled in Orlach, to witness the final 
demolition of the house, and question the demon. His language though still uttered 
in a man's bass voice, was religious and full of hope of redemption. He prayed in 
affecting terms, acknowledged that he had committed fearful crimes, but his term of 
earthly imprisonment was nearly ended. 

'■ He described castles, and scenes in the country, of which the girl could have had 
no knowledge, and the accurate description he gave of the ancient monastery of 
Krailsheim, on the site of which Grombach's cottage and farm had stood, was pro- 
nounced by an antiquary present, to be perfectly correct. It was half-past eleven in 
the morning when the workmen engaged in the demolition of the house, came to an 
extremely ancient piece of masonry, which, on being removed, disclosed a large dry 
well, filled with rubbish, mixed with human bones, amongst which were the remains 
of several infants. These tokens, coupled with the confessions of the spirits speaking 
through Magdalene excited the most profound interest in the community at large. 

" Magdalene herself had been removed to the house of a neighbour at some distance 
from the scene of her former home, but the crisis of her attack kept constant and 
faithful pace with the progress of the work, and just as the above-named ancient piece 
of masonry was discovered, the livid appearance of her face entirely changed to a 
bright and healthful glow. Her eyes opened, and never shall I forget the astonishing 
transformation she exhibited. Confused and amazed at seeing herself surrounded by 
so many strangers, the poor girl covered her face with her hands, and began to weep ; 
she soon recovered however, and became at once and entirely free from the monstrous 
obsession to which she had been subject for more than eighteen months. 

"No return either of this obsession, nor the faculty of ghost-seeing was ever 
experienced. Mind and body alike were instantaneously restored to their normal 
condition of health and strength, and but for the theory of demoniacal possession, the 
case has been and must ever remain a paradox which the ordinary experiences of the 
physician can never explain." 

Besides the curious facts connected with this case, Dr. Kerner relates 
many others of an equally striking character. 

Of course it will be understood by every well-informed reader of Spiritual 
literature, that the most extraordinary illustration on record of German 
Spirituahsm, or indeed of any country, is to be found in the history of 
Kerner's renowned "Seeress," Madame Frederica Hauffe of Prevorst, 
whose mediumship was not only spontaneous and wholly undesired, 
but whose philosophic teachings and doctrine of the spheres, deserve far 
more attention than has been generally accorded to them; in fact, they 
antedate in some respects, and far excel in others, all that has since been 
demonstrated in the modern Spiritual movement. 

The continual recurrence to the experiences of this famed Prevorst ' 
Seeress, in the writings of nearly all Spiritualistic authors, would render their 
repetition here tedious and unnecessary. We cannot close Dr. Kerner's 
invaluable record however, without adding one more narrative in which he 
was interested, although for special and private reasons it was not pubUshed 
among his other collected cases :— 

SCENES PROM BEYOND THE VEIL. 

" Some ten years ago there resided in New York, U.S.A., an aged lady of German birth 
the widow of an eminent American merchant, by name Madame Walter. This lady 
having become deeply interested in Spiritualism, communicated to Mrs. Hardinge Britten 
the particulars of her own early experience, at a period of her life when she had been a 
patient of the renowned German physician, philosopher, and writer. Dr. Justinius Kerner, 
The circumstances of her case were so remarkable that Dr. Kerner had noted them down 
with a view of incorporating them with other narratives of a kindred character, in a forth- 
coming volume. At Madame Walter's earnest request, her experiences, which seemed to 
her at that time too sacred to be entrusted to a cold materialistic world, were simply 
recorded in MSS. but not published. At the time when the strange tale was communi- 
cated to Mrs. Britten, the narrator deemed it her solemn duty to offer her record as a 
contribution to an age, better prepared than formerly to receive it. It need only be added, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 23 

that in addition to the high and unimpeachable character of the venerable lady from 
whom Mrs. Britten received the history orally, she is also in possession of Dr. Kerner's 
MSS., from which she has already drawn some details for her published sketches, and 
which she now deems worthy of being presented in more complete form. 

" Dr. Kerner stated that it was in the year 1827 that a medical friend of his, residing in 
the neighbourhood of Weinsberg, expressed a wish that he, Dr. Kerner, would take charge 
of a singular and interesting patient, a young lady who had been placed under his care 
for medical treatment. 

" To this proposition Dr. Kerner assented, and thus he became acquainted with Mdlle. 

Olga Schwartzenberg, the daughter of the Baroness M , of Vienna. 

" At the age of twenty, Mdlle. Olga had become the victim of a severe nervous and epi- 
gastric disorder, which had determined her mother to send her to Weinsberg, to the care 
of her trusty family physician. 

" The mother herself was a gay, heartless, fashionable widow, who had just contracted a 

second marriage with an immensely wealthy, but very aged man, the Baron M , who 

had become captivated with the fair widow's remarkable personal attractions. 

" Under the treatment of Drs. Kerner and Moran, Mdlle. Olga not only began to recover 
her health, but she displayed to a wonderful degree, the faculty of clairvoyance, and by 
the magnetic passes administered to her, became a somnambulist of extraordinary 
lucidity. 

" In the magnetic sleep she could speak in several foreign tongues she had not studied ; 
play on any instrument presented to her, though entirely unacquainted with music, and 
discourse most eloquently on various scientific subjects. Besides these interesting results 
of the sleep-waking condition, Mdlle. Olga, in her normal state, could see, and actually 
describe, the spirits of many deceased persons known to those around her, yet wholly 
strange to herself. Notwithstanding the peculiar excellence and accuracy of these 
descriptions, Mdlle. Olga treated the whole subject of spiritual existence with the utmost 
scorn and derision, and insisted on attributing the apparitions she perceived, to the reflex 
action of the minds of those with whom she came in contact. 

" As this young lady had been brought up by a worldly-minded, atheistical mother. Dr. 
Kerner was at no loss to account for her total disbelief in immortality, and her contempt 
of all religious ideas ; still it pained him to perceive that her rare gifts of seership made no 
other impression on her mind than to furnish food for ridicule, and denial of spiritual 
agency. 

" It was on a certain night in October, 1827, that Mdlle. Olga was left by her physician 
in a peaceful magnetic sleep, her maid, Anna Matterlich, occupying a couch in an adjoining 
apartment, to restrain — as her mistress gaily alleged — any undue flights of her somnam- 
bulistic wanderings ' beyond the confined earth.' 

"At a very early hour the next morning. Dr. Kerner was summoned in haste to attend 
his patient, and he then received from her pale lips the following astounding statement : — 
" ' Dr. Kerner,' she said, ' the sleep in which yoa left me must have been of very short 
duration, for the moment after your departure I became so wide awake that I heard, and 
could have counted the number of your retreating footsteps. At the instant that you 
closed the door behind you, I felt irresistibly impelled to rise from my bed, throw on a 
dressing gown, and seat myself by my writing-table. Whilst I sat, abstractedly gazing 
at the still blazing fire, to my unspeakable astonishment, my door was opened noiselessly 
and my mother entered the room, and without attempting to salute me, took a chair, and 
sat down by the fire on the opposite side to myself.' 

" ' If I was astonished at her unexpected appearance, I was still more so at the 
extraordinary change manifested in her person.' 

" ' Her dress — the splendid lace in which she was married to the Baron M gave me 

the idea of a cold so intense that it froze my very marrow to look at her ; indeed, I felt — 
though she did not complain, or shiver — that she was perishing with cold. I had always 
been accustomed to hear my mother spoken of as a very beautiful woman, and I had 
often gazed at her myself with admiring wonder ; but oh ! what a contrast did she How 
present to the loveliness which had so fascinated all beholders ! Her hair was loose and 
hanging around her shoulders in disorder ; but to my amazement I perceived that it was 
nearly «11 false, and from its lack of arrangement failed to conceal the grey locks which 
it was designed to hide. One cheek was coarsely patched with rouge, whilst the other 
was deadly pale. A set of false teeth was in her hand, and her neck and arms were only 
half smeared with enamel.' 

" ' I had never seen my mother at her toilette, and these disclosures fairly overwhelmed 
me, yet all this was forgotten, totally overlooked, whilst gazing on the unutterable 
expression of woe which marked every lineament of that wretched face. I had never 
seen despair, rage, and remorse so awfully depicted on a human countenance, nor did I 
deem it possible that those passions could find such a fearfully vivid expression.' 



24 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" ' I seemed to see, moreover, — and wonderful it was for me to perceive it, — my 
mother's entire past history, all written, — I could not tell how or where, — yet impressed 
clearly upon her, and obvious to every eye. And, oh Heaven ! may I never again witness 
the naked deformity of an ill-spent life, thus indelibly imprinted on the form !' 

" ' Aghast and speechless, I listened in silence, whilst my mother spoke to me ! but her 
very tones were changed, and instead of the soft silvery accents of other days, her voice 
was hollow and faint, and seemed to come from an illimitable distance off, and in no way 
to proceed from the forlorn figure that sat before me. It said : " Olga ! I have come to 
tell you of a very, very terrible dream I have had, a dream you ought to know, and one 
which, if I had realised 'before, I should have been happier— happier now ! " She sighed ; 
— and oh, what a sigh of anguish was that ! — then motioning me to the writing table by 
my side, she bade me tnke down the words she was going to speak.' 

" ' Mechanically I obeyed her, when she continued as follows, speaking so slowly and 
with so many pauses, that, though I never seemed to possess the courage to address her, 
I was enabled to transcribe her words faster than she uttered them : — - 

" ' I was dressing, as you see, to go to court, when a sudden faintness seized me, 
memory fled, and consciousness only returned in the form of this horrible dream.' 

" Here a shudder of agony seemed to shake her frame, and a long pause ensued. 

" ' I found myself on the brink of a dreary, high cliff, overhanging a wild and stormy 
sea. The air was thicker and heavier than night ; yet it was not night. All was lonely, 
wild, black, and dreary. It seemed as if I had stood in that awful solitude for ages, yet 
why or how I came there, I knew not. 

" ' Suddenly, the ground rocked and parted beneath my feet. Shrieking in mortal 
terror. I caught at the earth, blades of grass, the very motes in the air, to stay my fall, 
but all in vain. Down — down — I was hurled ! oh, how long I was in falling ! Surely I 
must have spent years in that awful descent, for the whole of my past life, even to its 
minutest details, passed in solemn march before me as I fell. Not the vivid flashes of 
sudden remembrance, but the stately panorama of every year, hour, and minute unrolled 
itself before me as clearly as in the time when each event was enacted. I saw my own 
pale mother sinking into an early grave, but the bitter causes of that untimely death came 
with her ; my disobedience, ingratitude, and desertion. Every unkind word or act of folly 
I had committed against her, was engraved on the funeral pall from which her faded form 
seemed to emerge. 

" ' I saw dim effigies of young, timid hearts that my idle coquetries had broken. I saw 
the charms of beauty and intellect with which God had endowed me, first adorning, then 
disfiguring my own phantom likeness, with the semblance of reptiles and loathsome 
animals. I saw faces of many a weary drudge whom I had sacrificed to my service ; and 
those who had bowed to me and cringed before me, now reviled me and pointed with foul 
grimaces to my unfinished toilette. 

" ' AU this and more, more than tongue can speak, I saw, and knew, and felt, during 
that tremendous fall. 

" ' I tell you, girl, a thousand years must have passed in that downward flight. At 
length I landed — landed on a distant shore, where thick haze clouded at first my straining 
vision, and the cold winds swept around me with such a piercing, icy chill as I never 
dreamed to exist before. 

" ' As I shrank and shivered in their tempestuous cruelty, myriads of ragged forms 
flitted before me, and I knew they were wretched creatures whom I had passed by 
unnoticed in my town drives, and then I wept to think I had never done anything to 
alleviate their misery. They mocked at me now, and then they passed away. I would 
have helped them, but the bitter blast sighed out, " Too late ! Too late I " 

" ' Lies I had spoken, and trivial follies long since forgotten, seemed now to assume 
tangible shapes, and rose up to meet me so palpably that I felt with shame and horror 
they were fastening themselves upon my form — my very dress, and would be seen and 
known by all beholders. 

'^ ' I strove to hide myself for very shame, but millions of eyes were upon me, and all 
seemed to read me through and through. 

" ' Then arose the wild and agonising wish, since I could not conceal my true self, that 
I were changed. 

" ' I screamed aloud a frantic prayer to return to earth and lead a new life — do some- 
thing, everything, over again, and be a better, truer, and purer woman. But again the 
bitter winds sighed out the doleful cry, ' Too late ! Too late ! ' In my despair I cried 
to those who surrounded me that I was not fit to be seen. I must and would be some- 
thing better. And then I remembered what the priests had taught — how they had 
preached that the blood of Christ would cleanse the worst of sinners, and redeem all who 
believed in Him from the penalty so justly due to iU- spent lives. I had never believed 
this. I had never been taught to believe, but I would do so now ; and then with frantic 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 25 

haste I sped on to find a priest. With the wish came the realisation. A celebrated 
minister of the Christian Church, long dead and gone, started up suddenly in my path, 
alive again, and ofi"ered me a crucifix. But, oh, horror ! As I gazed upon this man I saw 
he was worse than I was. He was a hypocrite, a base deceiver, and his changing form 
was marred by the wild, despairing images of thousands of shipwrecked souls whom his 
false teachings had misled. Still, a shadowy hope was left. I would cling to the crucifix. 
Pictures of faithful believers thus redeemed flitted before my eyes ; but even as with out- 
stretched arms I strove to clasp the image, it sfolce, and in sweet, though relentless, tones 
it said, " Not everyone who saith unto me. Lord, Lord ! but he who doeth the will of my 
Father, who is in heaven, he shall be saved." Then I shrieked out, " Is there then no salva- 
tion?" The answer came, "Work out thine own salvation." "But how?" "Inaction." 
" But," I cried again, "I am dead. There is no hope, no repentance after death." " There 
is no death," answered the voice, so still, so soft, yet so full of power that it seemed to fill 
the spaces of infinity. Confused and overwhelmed, yet still aroused and stirred by the 
strange new thought that there miyM he progress even beyond the grave, I asked, " Where, 
then, is hell ? " No answer came, but yet I felt that answer, and it impelled rhe to look 
around through the murky air on the bleak and barren prospect, and the dreary stunted 
forms of beings on whose faces I read images of mis-spent lives like my own. Then I 
cried, " Lo, I am in hell, and I myself have made it ! " 

" ' Then I thought, but did not dare to ask, of Heaven. 

" ' Thought in spirit life is action, reality, and with the thought came a view ! Oh, 
that I could speak of the radiant visions that one brief glance presented ! 

'' ' The brightest and highest flights of ideality on earth fall short, far short, of that 
blooming, sunlit land, and the happy, lovely people that inhabit it. And yet I saw what 
they had been, as clearly as I saw the evil lives of my associates. Some had been crippled, 
blind, starved, worked to death, or worn out with cares and toils, but all had been true 
and faithful unto death, and good to one another. All those that dwell in those heavenly 
spheres, those lands of light and beauty, that even to look at for a single instant is worth 
a thousand years of suffering, had been kind, patient, brave, or helpful. 

" ' Oh, what a glory it was to look upon the good ! Oh, that I had been good, ever so 
little ! Oh, that I had left some record behind, to bless mankind ! that single blessing 
would have saved me ! But whilst I sighed in heaviness, with Milton's fallen angel, " Me 
miserable !" the sweet soft voice breathed in my ear : " Up and be doing ! prepare, and 
commence thy life anew. Work out thine own salvation. Arise, and go to thy Father." 
I thought, for it was but a dream, Olga — I thought, and said, I will arise : and I did go, 
and I came here, as the first fruit of my new life and new resolution, for I found, that is, 
I thought I found, that the only way to help myself was by helping others, and so I came 
hither to warn my child ; to tell her that not in church, in pulpit, or in the good deeds of 
another, does the path to heaven lie, but in her own strivings after good ; in her deeds to 
her fellow mortals ; in pure thoughts, good acts, kind words, and the motives for good 
which move us through every second of our mortal pilgrimage. Heaven and hell are 
states, my child. No foot can tread the path by which we reach them but our own ; no 
mouthing hypocrite can teach us how to find the way, or save, or guide us, only the im- 
pulses to good and truth which God has given to every human soul, if we would but heed 
them. These are our saviours, Olga. Arise ! and save thyself ! " 

" ' She ceased, and gaining self-possession from the cessation of the agonising tones that 
had so long rung in my ear, I cried out — 

" * Oh, mother ! tell me one thing more. In the name of heaven, tell me how and 
when you came here ! ' 

" ' Raising my eyes as I spoke, I sought to meet her glance, but I gazed on vacancy. 
The empty chair alone remained ; the pen, ink, and wet writing inscribed with the fearful 
tale were the only mementos that remained of that awful interview ! ' 

" The lady concluded her narrative by adding, that after the disappearance of the appari- 
tion, she remembered no more until she found Dr. Kerner and her maid bending 
anxiously over her. As a sequel to this terrible vision, Dr. Kerner stated that the 

Baroness M died at Vienna, on the very night in question ; she had been found at 

her toilet half dressed, but covered with blood. The sudden rupture of a blood vessel 
had robbed her of life, in the very act ef preparing to ensnare all hearts in the meshes of 
her unreal charms. 

" The appearance of the corpse in all respects corresponded to the apparition witnessed 
by the daughter, even to the set of false teeth still clutched in the hand of the mute but 
eloquent dead. It need only be added that to the last day of her earthly life Madame 
Walter's terrible vision bore fruits in her chastened spirit, by inciting her to ceaseless acts 
of benevolence, holy thoughts, and words of tender sympathy, which made all who knew 
her in life, and remembered her after death, ' rise up and call her blessed.' " 



2 6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 



CHAPTER V, 

SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY (CONTINUED). 
Wonderful Phenomenal Personages. 

During the progress of the Spiritual movement, the desire to satisfy the 
many marvel seekers who crowd its ranks has no doubt induced those 
journalists whose business it is to administer to popular taste, to ransack 
the literature of the past for proofs of Spirit intercourse. 

Thus there are very few well-attested cases but what have already found 
their way into print, and helped to feed man's craving appetite for addi- 
tional wonders from the Spirit world. 

At the risk of reiterating some experiences that have been already 
worn threadbare, the scope of this compendium obliges us to reprint such 
cases as will illustrate various phases of our subject occurring in different 
countries. 

It is with this view that we now proceed to give a brief notice of the 
remarkable cures effected through the instrumentality of the celebrated 
Prince Hohenlohe, Archbishop of Gross wardein, in Hungary, and Abbot 
of St. Michael's Monastery at Gaborjan. 

It must be understood that this eminent ecclesiastic attributed his great 
powers of healing to the special interposition of his " Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ." The excellent and amiable Arabian gentleman, Nathaniel 
Aymar, of whom Bayard Taylor and other Eastern travellers make men- 
tion, attributed cures just as remarkable as those of which we are about to 
write, to the influence of Mahomet. A very successful Chinese doctor of 
California, " Ah Sing," claimed to heal diseases only under the influence of 
Fo, and Dr. Valmour, a negro, of New Orleans, performed the most 
astonishing feats of healing solely through what he assured the author, was 
the influence of his father's spirit, who was a physician before him. The 
most renowned healers of America cite the names of divers spirits as the 
sources of their astonishing powers, and any number of Buddhists of 
whom the author has cognizance make cures by the influence of their God- 
man Buddha. To the one-idead sectarian of any shade of opinion it is 
necessary to preface our account of Prince Hohenlohe's cures with these 
remarks, lest we should be instrumental in deluding our readers concerning 
the real sources of that remarkable man's beneficent powers. The true 
scientist will be at no loss to find a common origin for all spiritual and 
magnetic potencies, and that independent of sect, creed, or clime. 

The following particulars are taken from the autobiography of Prince 
Hohenlohe, of which a fine translation has been rendered by William 
Howitt. From this we learn that the Prince was born in 1794, and being 
destined for the church, filled many clerical positions of distinction in 
Olmiitz, Munich, and Bamberg. 

In 1820 he became acquainted with a peasant named Martin Michel, 
whom he met at a watering-place in the Duchy of Baden, and from whom 
he learned that the power of healing, " through the name of Christ" was 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 27 

constantly practised by him, and could be exercised equally well by any 
other true Christian. The Prince relates the first cure he effected under 
the influence of his new friend Martin in the following terms : — 

"At the commencement of the year 1826, I proceeded to Hapfort, to pay a visit to 
Prince Louis, heir to the crown of Bavaria. There finding Martin, I invited him to 
journey with me in my carriage to Wiirtzburg. On the morrow I paid a visit to Baron von 
Eeinach, and when we were about to dine, the domestics carried in the young Princess 
Matilda of Schwartzenburg, who for eight years had not the power of walking, through 
paralysis. . Touched with compassion for the poor cripple, who was placed at my side, I 
bethought me of Martin, who had cured me of a violent sore throat, and I said within 
myself tlaat probably, if the Princess had firm confidence in the help of the Saviour, 
Martin could cure her likewise. 

" On the 21st of June, after performing mass, I felt myself irresistibly impelled to 
hasten to the Princess, and tell her that if she had a firm reliance on the promise of Jesus 
Christ she could be healed. I went to the Princess, accompanied by Martin Michel, 
and leaving him in the ante-chamber, was shown into the apartment of the Princess, 
whom I found reclining on a bed, enveloped as it were in a mass of machinery. After 
the usual salutations I said to her, ' My dear cousin, God is able to help you through 
Jesus Christ His Son, and I have brought with me a pious peasant, at whose prayer God 
has already succoured the affiicted. If you are willing I will call him in, that he may pray 
for you.' 

" ' With all my heart,' replied the Princess, whereupon I called Michel. 

"After some words addressed to the invalid, Martin commenced praying, but it is 
necessary to have seen him to have a just idea of the depth of fervour with which he 
prayed. I avow on my own part that I threw myself on the ground in supplication also. 
The prayers ended, I felt a secret power which I could not explain nor resist, which 
impelled me to say in a loud voice to the Princess, ' In the name of Jesus Christ arise and 
walk ! ' 

" As I pronounced these words, ever memorable to me, the Princess was not only able 
to rise, which she had not done for eight years, but to walk with perfect ease and strength. 

" The rumour of this event was quickly spread, and I was surrounded by invalids. I 
say nothing of the number of such facts as then took place, for it is not for me to speak 
of them. 

The Princess it seems walked to church on the following Sunday, to the 
astonishment of the whole community, and in sight of multitudes who for 
years had been accustomed only to see her reclining in a carriage, or borne 
in the arms of attendants. 

The next notable cure was performed by the Prince alone, and it took 
place on the person of Louis, Crown Prince of Bavaria, the well-known 
monarch of that country, and the liberal patron of arts and sciences in 
Munich. 

The following letter, although it has often appeared in print before, is 
selected for quotation in this place, because it bears a testimony which 
none can question to the powers of the celebrated Therapeutist. It was 
written by Prince Louis of Bavaria, and is as follows : — 

"to the count von sinsheim. 

" Mt Dear Count, — There are still miracles. The last ten days of the month the 
people of Wiirtzburg might believe themselves in the days of the Apostles. 

" The deaf hear, the blind see, the lame freely walk, not by the aid of art, but by 
means of a few short prayers, and the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ. The 
Prince of Hohenlohe demanded only faith in Jesus Christ to heal the sick ; but this faith 
was an indispensable condition. 

" On the evening of the 28th the number of persons cured amounted to more than 
seventy. These were of all classes, from the humblest to a prince of the blood, who, 
without any exterior means, recovered the hearing which he had lost from his infancy.* 
This cure was effected by a prayer made during some minutes by Prince Hohenlohe, a 
priest of only twenty-seven years of age. 

*Prince Louis here speaks of himself and his own cure. 



28 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" . . .In my ante-chanber, the Prince twice unsuccessfully pronounced his prayer 
for a woman who had been blind for twenty-five years, but at the pressing solicitation of 
the woman, he prayed a third time, and she recovered her sight. . . . 

"The inhabitants of Wiirtzburg have testified by the most lively acclamations the 
pleasure which my cure has given them. You are at liberty to communicate this letter, 
and to allow any one who wishes it to take a copy of it." 

"Louis, Prince Eotal. 

"Bruckenau, July 3rd, 1822. " 

Whilst no honest reader can fail to admire the manly candour with 
which Prince Louis testified to those marvels, which many a cowardly 
ingrate would have kept secret, and many an interested bigot would have 
tried to smother up, the scientist might suggest the pertinent enquiry, why 
the Prince's prayers could not cure the blind woman mentioned in the 
above letter until the third repetition. 

It could not have been for lack oi faith on the part of the patient, 
because it was at her pressing entreaty that the third prayer was offered. 

Was the good healer's "Saviour" harder to be entreated in this poor 
woman's case than in that of the Crown Prince, who was cured instantane- 
ously, and upon the strength of the first prayer offered ? 

If we were called upon to solve such a problem through magnetic and 
psychologic laws our difficulties would be explained at once. We 
should perceive in this, as in many other instances, that special and 
continuous applications of the good healer's force were required, whilst in 
the Prince's case a mere shock, or primary exertion of will, was all that was 
needed. 

Meantime, those who insist upon calling in " the Lord Jesus " as the sole 
agent of cure, could not deny that he was somewhat partial, and not always 
just, for the memoirs of Prince Hohenlohe prove that there were occa- 
sional failures, although all that came appeared to have been "full of 
faith and the holy spirit." 

Professor Onymus, of the University of Wiirzburg, himself an eye-witness 
of Prince Hohenlohe's wonderful operations, has given the following account 
of them : — 

" Prince Hohenlohe cures the sick by his prayers. From all sides they bring the sick, 
the blind, the lame, deaf, and dumb to his door. The victims of every evil that afflict 
humanity besiege the house where he stays, and it is not without great trouble, and by 
the assistance of the pohce, that you are able to get to him. Notwithstanding, he never 
seems fatigued. 

" He never refuses his aid to any one, even to the poor, or mendicants with the most 
disgusting complaints. 

" When he quits the house, it is not to carry alleviation to the palaces of the great ; l\e 
goes in preference to the cabins of the poor. When he prays we see that the prayer 
comes from the bottom of his heart, and that with so much fervour, that he oftentimes 
seems ready to sink with exhaustion." 

As we cannot do justice to one tenth of the laudatory notices that were 
written of the Prince's marvellous cures, we must conclude by selecting a 
few of the notable cases recorded by Legation Councillor Scharold, who, 
like many other distinguished personages of the time, wrote of what he 
himself was an eye-witness to. 

"Elizabeth Laner, cured of a rheumatic affection of the nerves, which made her a 
helpless cripple of twenty-five years' standing. 

" Captain Ruthlein, of Thundorf, seventy years of age, and Fraiilein Fegelim, upwards 
of seventy, both cured of total paralysis, and able to use every limb and organ freely. 

"Michal Dinsenbacher, aged twenty-four, for three years suffered dreadful agonies 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 29 

with an abscess of the chest, and caries of bones. Patient of hospital, cured on the spot, 
and at work in the fields the next day. 

' ■ Two lame men, carried in arms into the house of Aulic Councillor Martin, total 
paralysis, — cured on the spot. 

•' The widow Balzano, and another woman of Narstadt, blind ; one for twenty-five, 
another, nineteen years ; cured at the Legation office of Counsellor Scharold." 

It would be needless to pursue this list farther. 

Prince Charles of Bartenstein, in a letter to his father, dated August 18, 
1821, expresses his amazement at the cures- which he himself had witnessed 
in the chapel at Bruckenau, where he declares, " four hundred blind, deaf, 
dumb, and paralytic people &c., &c., were instantaneously and completely 
cured." A vast number of thoroughly attested cases were collected and 
pubhshed in 1825 in the German papers. 

At the solicitation of the medical faculty of Geri7iany however, the 
Government at length forbade these operations ; and Prince Hohenlohe 
retired to Austria, where he continued his divine work until his death, 
which took place in his fifty-fifth year, at Boslon, near Vienna. 

Among the great variety of manifestations recorded by the American 
Spiritual journals, none have excited more interest than the appearance of 
letters, names, and figures on the flesh of the mediums, thus affording 
incontrovertible evidence both of the intelligence which arranges the 
characters, and of a new and wonderful phase of chemistry, involved in 
their production. 

Not to depreciate the value of such a curious form of supra-mundane 
agency, but to show its accordance with some unknown law at work in 
various directions, we point to one or two remarkable cases of " stigmata," 
many of which have been indisputably attested on the Continent of Europe. 
Our German illustration of this singular phase is the celebrated Katherine 
Emerick, the nun of Diilmen, of whom we give the account published by 
Herr Clemens Von Brentano, who visited the Ecstatic, and observed her 
case for many years. He says — 

'' The most remarkable features of this case were — a bloody crown encircling the head ; 
marks of wounds in the hands, feet and side, and two or three crosses on the breast. 
These, and the mark round her forehead, often bled, the latter usually on Wednesday, 
and the former on Friday, and with such obstinacy, that very often heavy drops ran 
down. This statement has been subscribed to by numerous physicians, and others also 
who have visited her. 

" In 1 820 the Ecclesiastical Board visited Diilmen several times, and found the facts 
more or less to agree with the published reports. 

" On the breast was found a double cross, in red connected lines. The bleedings 
had developed for years, and all accounts agree that they could not have been produced 
by any known applications from without. They have been continually watched for days, 
and washed by physicians, but never varied in appearance, nor could they be accounted 
for on any known physiological cause. Katherine appeared to have been a highly sensitive 
devout person from childhood. 

" In one of her numerous visions she informed her confessor that she had a vision of 
the Saviour, who appeared to her as a radiant youth, offering her a garland with the 
left hand and a crown of thorns with the right. She seized the latter, and pressed it to 
her brow, but on regaining outward consciousness she felt a severe pain encircling her 
head, accompanied by drops of blood. Soon after this, in 1802, she entered the convent 
at Diilmen. 

"About 1814 her case became generally known, through a pamphlet published by her 
attending physician. Still later she submitted — though reluctantly — to an official 
investigation, and though she always desired most earnestly to be left in strict 
retirement, she yielded patiently to any form of investigation that could throw light on 
her wonderful case." 

The celebrated naturalist, Count Stolberg, visited Katherine in 1821, 



so NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

and from his account we learn that for many months at a time, her whole 
nourishment consisted of water and small portions of an apple, plum, or 
cherry, daily. She was subject to trances, and fasts prolonged for incredible 
periods of time. She often spoke in trance, in strange and beautiful 
language. Her prevision, knowledge of character, distant events and 
places, was astonishing, and her cheerfulness, piety, and resignation excited 
the admiration of all around her. Early on the Friday morning, the thorn 
wounds on her head began to bleed ; later in the day the eight wounds on 
her hands and feet commenced bleeding. No artist could have more 
accurately painted the crown and crosses, and no matter what pains were 
taken to wipe off the drops of blood, they continued to flow throughout 
the entire day. She had many remarkable spiritual gifts, and besides the 
phenomena already described, her clairvoyant perceptions were constant 
and most penetrating. Ennemoser, in his " History of Magic," relates 
many other equally remarkable and well attested cases of Stigmata, none 
of which are more striking in the persons of religious ecstatics than that 
which has recently attracted the attention of the Continental world, in the 
person of a poor servant girl of Belgium, of whom the following account is 
rendered by Father Johann Weber, a Dominican physician, who was sent 
by the Bishop of the Diocese to the village of Bois d'Haisne, in Belgium, 
to investigate the case :— 

The Dominican's visit is described in the Roman CathoUc Tablet of 1869 
in the following words : — 

" He arrived at the village of Bois d'Haisne, at the house of the Lafans, about one 
o'clock in the day. Louisa was at that very moment in Qne of her mysterious trances ; 
but the venerable Provincial was only disposed to doubt, since her appearance was per- 
fectly natural. However, the parish priest who accompanied him soon convinced him of 
the reality, by shaking her violently, and then sticking pins into her arms and legs with- 
out producing the smallest effect upon her ; nor did blood flow from the punctures, 
though they were deep. Finding that she was entirely insensible, they proceeded to 
examine her hands and feet, in which they found the distinct marks of the stigmata. 
There were also marks of the crown of thorns round her head, but there was no trace of 
blood in any of the wounds. After about a quarter of an hour's observation, the priest 
recalled her to consciousness by the simple words, " Well, Louisa." She opened her eyes 
quite naturally, and then saw the Provincial. The priest explained to her that he had 
been sent by the bishop to investigate the matter. In answer to his enquiry as to what 
she had seen in her ecstacy, she replied that she had been assisting in the bearing of the 
cross. He was very much struck both with her simplicity and ignorance. She was 
merely a peasant girl, and nothing more. The priest having left the house, the Provincial 
resolved to remain and watch the case ; but that he might not appear to be doing so, he 
took out his breviary and began to say his ofl[ice. He remarked only that she turned to 
the east, and that her expression was one of singular modesty and reflection. At a 
little before two o'clock she gave a deep sigh and lifted up her hands. Soon her watcher 
perceived a stream of blood to issue from the wound in her left hand, which could not 
have been caused by any instrument or other agency, as she had not moved from her arm- 
chair, and her hands did not touch each other. Tears flowed from her eyes and fell un- 
heeded on her cheek. Her expression changed to one expressing great anguish, a kind of 
foam escaped from her lips and filled her mouth. At a quarter to three she fell, her arms 
being extended in the shape of a cross. Her sister ran to j)ut cloths under her head and 
feet, the former being lifted with great difficulty. Her face was warm, but her hands and 
feet were icy cold as if dead, while the pulse apparently ceased to beat. At three o'clock 
she moved, crossing her feet a little, and assuming exactly the attitude of Christ on the 
cross. Thus she remained until four o'clock, when she suddenly rose, knelt with clasped 
hands, and seemed to pray with the utmost fervour. Her body during this time appeared 
as if it scarcely touched the ground. After about ten minutes she seated herself again in 
the arm chair, resuming her attitude of modest recollection, and the Provincial thought 
she would soon be herself again ; but the most curious phenomena were yet to come. 
After a few seconds her expression became painfully distressed ; she lifted her arms again 
in the shape of a cross, sighing heavily, and greenish foam again escaping from her mouth, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 31 

while the mark of the crown of thorns on her head became more and more distinct. 
Suddenly she burst forth in a loud cry, and bowed her head. At that moment her body 
had all the appearance of death ; her face was deadly pale, and even cadaverous ; her lips 
were black and livid ; her eyes glassy, open, and apparently without life. A few moments 
after, the coloiir returned to her cheeks, and her face assumed an expression of intense 
beatitude. The parish priest came back at this moment, and taking a lamp of petroleum, 
put it close to her eyes without her perceiving it. The Provincial pricked her feet, both 
on the soles and on the upper parts, without her feeling it in the smallest; degree. At a 
quarter past six she suddenly became perfectly natural, the pulse began to beat as usual, 
and she was " herself " again. She had no recollection of anything she had herself done 
during her ecstacy. She seemed to think little or nothing of these extraordinary visions, 
and did not attribute to herself any merit or holiness in consequence. She is a tertiary 
of St. Francis, but knows very little of his history. In answer to some questions which 
were put to her, she replied that she had never been spoken to by Our Lord, and that she 
had seen the evil one under various forms ; when she mentioned him she was filled with 
great fear. 

" The following morning she was at the parish church, and received the communion at 
the hands of the Provincial with great reverence. The priest's housekeeper being absent, 
she came to the presbytery to prepare breakfast. The Provincial was struck with her 
brisk, healthy appearance, and could scarcely imagine that he beheld in the bright, simple 
servant girl the Extatica who, in a few hours, probably, would be again undergoing the 
mysterious conformity to the Passion above described." 

Of Stone-throwing, hauntings, or the disturbances which in Germany are 
commonly attributed to the " Polter Gheist," we have so many accounts, 
and the manifestations so nearly resemble each other, that it would be 
tedious to repeat them. 

Almost every reader of Spiritual literature is familiar with the accounts 
published by Brevior, Howitt, Owen, Mrs. Crowe, &c., concerning the 
hauntings in the Castle of Slawensik, in Upper Silesia, especially those 
which occurred to Councillor Hahn and his friend Cornet Kern. 

Dr. Dorfel, a physician resident at Hamburgh, quite recently sent the 
author a numerously-signed document, containing accounts, known to and 
witnessed personally by the signers, of manifestations which tally almost 
exactly with those in the Castle of Slawensik. These hauntings followed 
the family of Dr. Dorfel for a period of more than three years, during which 
he removed from Darmstadt, Berlin, and Bonn, in the hope of avoiding 
them. They came in the shape of frightful apparitions, groanings, shrieks, 
poundings, throwing of missiles, movements of heavy furniture, &c., and 
had been witnessed by Madame Dorfel and her two daughters, besides 
about one hundred different persons, neighbours of the suffering and 
afflicted family, who had been called in at various times and places in the 
vain hope of exorcising the persecutors who tormented them. 

In answer to Dorfel's statement sent to the author, the latter advised 
him to form circles, and endeavour to communicate with the invisible 
persecutors, on the generally pursued system of American Spiritualists. 
This advice being followed, proved successful. 

During the year 1870, the harassed family succeeded in communicating 
by raps and planchette writing, with the Polter Gheist, and a number of 
his weird associates. In this way they learned a terrible history of crime 
and wrong, involving persons of high position, of whom it would now be 
injudicious to write. The spirits represented that they only attached 
themselves to the doctor's family because they found in its members the 
requisite medium power. The communications soon grew orderly ; the 
criminal spirits manifested penitence and desire for progress, after which 
the hauntings entirely ceased. In all probability, hundreds of similar cases 
would be thus explained and terminated, if those who are cognisant of 



32 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

them, would only enter upon a systematic method of communing with the 
invisibles, on the plan of the modern spirit circle. 

From the reports of M. Kalodzy, the author of several valuable works 
on mineralogy, mining, engineering, &c., we have received a curious 
collection of narratives concerning the knockings which are so common 
in Hungarian and Bohemian mines. M. Kalodzy says, these knockings 
have been repeatedly heard by him and the pupils that he — as a teacher 
in the Hungarian School of Mines — has introduced there, and that many 
of the miners are so accustomed to the signals of their " Kobolds " that 
they would not like to work in any direction against which the knockers 
warn them. In Northern Germany, these knockings are quite common in 
mines, and are attributed to the Berg-geister, or spirits of mountains 
and mines. 

From Mdme. Kalodzy, the writer of "Rambles in the Hartz Mountains," 
and " The Clock Makers of the Forest," &c., the author of this work has 
received the following account of these " Kobolds " or spirits, as witnessed 
by Madame Kalodzy and three companions, who spent a week in the hut 
of a peasant, one Michael Engelbrecht, in whose family the Kobolds seem 
to have been perfectly familiar :■ — 

" On the three first days after onr arrival," said Madame K , " we only heard a 

few dull knocks, sounding in and about the mouth of the mine, as if produced by some 
vibrations of very distant blows, but when on the thii-d evening Michael came home from 
work, he brought us the welcome intelligence that his friends, the Kobolds, had promised 
by knockings to make us a visit. This we were right glad of, as Dorothea, our Michael's 
mfe, had expressed her fears that they might be shy of so many strangers, and would 
not appear, unless we spent some hours in the mine. 

"We were about to sit down to tea when Mdlle. Gronin called our attention to a steady 
light, round, and about the size of a cheese plate, which appeared suddenly on the wall of 
the little garden directly opposite the door of the hut in wliich we sat. 

"Before any of us could rise to examine it, four more lights appeared almost simul- 
taneously, about the same shape, and varying only in size. Surrounding each one was 
the dim outHne of a small human figure, black and grotesque, more like a little image 
carved out of black shining wood, than anything else I can Uken them to. Dorothea 
kissed her hands to these dreadful little shapes, and Michael bowed with great reverence. 
As for me and my companions, we were so awe-struck yet amused at these comical shapes, 
that we could not move or speak until they themselves seemed to flit about in a sort of 
wavering dance, and then vanish, one by one." 

The narrator went on to say, that she and her husband have since both 
heard and seen these little men, who always come and go very suddenly ; 
appear as above described in the shadowy image of diminutive black dwarfs 
about two or three feet in height, and at that part which in the human 
being is occupied by the heart, they carry the round luminous circle first 
described, an appearance which is much more frequently seen than the 
little black men themselves. 

Mr. Weske, a we'althy and intelligent German gentleman of San Francisco, 
has related to the author a graphic account of his discovering a fine gold 
lode by aid of these knocking mining spirits. Mr. William Howitt, in an 
article on the Berg-Geister, written' some years ago for the London Spiritual 
Magazine, says : — 

" We know that the miners of Germany and the North have always asserted, and do 
stiU assert, the existence of Kobolds and other Berg-geister or spirits of the mountains 
and mines, and that they assist or thwart their exertions in quest of ore, as they are 
irritated or placated." 

The miners describe them as short, black, and declare that when they are 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 33 

attached to certain miners they go before them in the sohd subterranean 
rock, knocking with their hammers, and thus indicating the presence of 
metal and the devious course of the vein. If it is lost by a break in the 
strata, or " fault " as they call it, the sound of the Be?'g-geister's hammer 
directs where again to seek it, and when there is a busy and energetic 
thumping of many hammers, it is the certain announcement of abundant ore. 
Not caring in this plain matter of fact compendium to enter more fully 
into the vexed question of sub-human spiritual intelligences, we shall treat 
no more on what is termed by the Occulists "elementary existences." As 
abundance of testimony on this question can be found in other writings, we 
must return to our narrative of phenomena which may be attributed to the 
agency of human spirits, or originate in the realms of magnetism and 
psychology. 

It may not be uninteresting to the student of SpirituaHstic phenomena to 
learn, that besides the instances of levitation recorded of Mr. D. D. Home, 
and other physical media of the New Dispensation, several spontaneous 
cases of this kind are on record. 

The following brief article is selected from many other illustrations of 
this phase of sptrit power, because it comes from respectable and authentic 
sources. 

A correspondent in t\iQ Journal de Frankfort, of September, 1861, writes 
as follows : — 

To the Editor of the "Spiritual Magazine." 

" We read in the Geqenwart of Vienna that a Catholic Priest was preaching before his 
congregation last Sunday in the Church of St. Mary, at Vienna, on the subject of the 
constant protection of angels over the faithful committed to their charge, and this in 
words of great exaltation, and with an unction and eloquence which touched profoundly 
the hearts of numbers of the congregation. Soon after the commencement of the sermon, 
a girl of about twenty years of age showed all the signs of ecstacy, and soon, her arms 
crossed upon her bosom, and with her eyes fixed on the preacher, she was seen by the 
whole congregation to be raised gradually from the floor into the air, and there to rest at 
an elevation, of more than a foot, to the end of the sermon. We are assured that the 
same phenomenon had happened several days previously at the moment of her receiving 
the communion." — Journal de Frankfort, Sept. 6, 1861. 

This remarkable occurrence was also testified of by the late Baron de 
Palm, who was present on the occasion, and himself related it to the 
author. In connection with this event, Baron Kirkup, of Florence, a well 
known and esteemed correspondent of the Londo?i Spiritual Magazine, 
writes to the Editor in the following terms : — 

" This is a confirmation of my friend Mr. Home's repeated elevation, of which there 
are a thousand witnesses. I possess eight engravings from different copperplates of a 
similar elevation of Pope Pius VII. There is this inscription : 

" ' Pius Sep. Pont. Max. 
Savonce in Ecstasim iterum raptus die Assumptionis B. F. M. 
lUh Augusti, 1811.' 
" I have two ancient prints of diEferent risings in the air of St. Catherine of Sienna ; 
one inscriptisn is : 

" ' Sublime per echstasim rapta divina arcana contemplatur,' &c. 
" I believe many of your friends know 

" Your obedient servant, 
" Florence, 15 October, 1861. Seymour Kirkup." 

From the letters of an esteemed Spiritualist of Baden Baden, Col. Kyd, 
a gentleman who, in connection with his amiable lady's Planchette writing, 
3 



34 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

has done much to stimulate investigation into Spiritual matters throughout 
many of the most fashionable circles of Germany, the author learned 
accounts concerning a certain Pastor Blumhard, which have since been 
verified by several persons who have visited that gentleman, and published 
details of his wonderful achievements. Pastor Blumhard resides at Boll, 
near Gappingen in Wiirtemberg, and is a noble-minded enthusiast, whose 
life, in a more limited sphere than that of the excellent Pastor Oberlin, still 
greatly resembles it. M. Blumhard performs many marvellous cures by the 
laying on of hands, having in one instance cured completely an unfortunate 
woman, a parishioner of his, of an immense wen. The report of this 
extraordinary case attracted so much attention to the good Pastor, that he 
was visited from far and near, by great numbers both of the curious and 
afflicted of earth. M. Blumhard not only cures the sick, but he administers 
to the miserably poor, of whom his parish is full, by presents of fruit, 
vegetables, wine, and provisions of all kinds. These his narrow means 
could never enable him to purchase, but all his great benefactions, though 
procured through human means, are generally brought to him by entire 
strangers, and always in answer to prayer. Hundreds of persons report 
that they have been compelled by a power they could not resist, to send 
presents of clothes, or food, to Pastor Blumhard. On these occasions it is 
invariably found that some poor needy parishioner has besought the prayers 
of the good Pastor for precisely the articles sent in. Like Miiller, of 
Bristol, England, the philosophy of this life of prayer and faith is easily 
understood by the student of magnetism and psychology, but as in Miiller's 
case. Pastor Blumhard's religion alone is held responsible for the Divine 
response. Be it as it may, a good work is accomplished, and an humble 
German priest is the instrument through whom it is wrought. A few such 
evidences of Christian faith in action, would do more to prove the truth^ 
and value of Christianity, than the Pope of Rome and all his Cardinals,' 
or the barren fruitless sermons of the whole Bench of English Bishops. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SPIRITUALISM IN GERMANY (CONCLUDED.) 

To the writings of Kerner, Ennemoser, Eschenmayer, and their cotem- 
poranes, we must refer our* readers for further details concerning the 
subjects treated of in the last chapter, meantime it needs no reiteration to 
show that all the spiritual phenomena now so generally known throughout 
the world, were quite famiHar amongst the Germans during the entire of 
this century, 

Even the inspiration exhibited on the public rostrum, for which American 
Spiritualism has been so specially and justly celebrated, has not been 
wanting in the nineteenth-century marvels of German Spiritualism. In 
proof of this we cite the case of the celebrated Baroness Von Krudener, a 
Prussian lady of high birth, who for more than twenty years, during the 




Prince Emil de Sayn. Wittgenstein 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 35 

stormiest days of revolutionary strife on the Continent of Europe, that is, 
from 1793 to the period of her death in 1824, deemed herself called upon 
to quit the brilliant life of the salon, and the attractions which her rank 
and station offered, in order that she might preach a gospel of peace and 
purity, in the presence of warlike and violent men, many of them the 
contending generals, princes, and potentates who ruled the destinies of 
Europe. 

A prophetess and orator of the most remarkable power, this beautiful 
and accomplished lady pursued her mission in despite of threats, dangers, 
and captivity. 

The following anecdote will suffice to show the great power she wielded 
over the most influential personages of her time. 

In William Howitt's charming biography of the Baroness Von Kriidener, 
when describing the chaotic state of Europe during the Napoleonic wars, 
he says : — 

" One evening the Emperor Alexander of Russia who had been making his way 
across Bavaria wearily for days, through crowds of exulting people who looked upon 
him as a saviour, entered an hotel at Heilbronn borne down by fatigue." " He shut 
himself up in his room, filled with deep and painful reflections. 

" Alexander is supposed to have been aware of the intended murder of his father, 
the Emperor Paul, and despite his wish to become his people's benefactor, he could 
not rise above the dark memories that haunted him. 

"He himself relates that he had just exclaimed aloud, "Oh, that some holy soul 
might be sent to me, who could solve the great enigma of my life and destiny !" when 
the door opened, and Pnnce Wollonsky, entreating pardon for the intrusion, 
announced, that Madame Kriidener waited without, and would insist upon seeing His 
Imperial Highness. 

'' ' Madame Kriidener!' replied the Emperor, 'then surely she comes in answer to 
my prayer ; let her enter.' Madam Kriidener had met the Emperor before, and won 
his confidence by her marvellous spirit of prophecy, fearless love of truth, and simple 
piety. 

" For three long hours the noble lady counselled with the tempest-tossed soul of 
the monarch, 

" He himself declared, ' she spoke music to his spirit, and brought him a peace 
which no other on earth could give.' Before she quitted him, she declared, she had 
come to plead the cause of the starving peasantry of Russia, famine-stricken and 
perishing, from the ravages of the armies that had passed through the land, and con- 
sumed all their means of subsistence. 

"The representations of this admirable woman were effectual, as Alexander 
exhausted his resources in sending provisions to the sufferers, and relieving to the 
utmost extent of his power those, for whom the good Baroness had so ably pleaded." 

Referring to Madame Kriidener's subsequent residence in Paris, in the 
eventful year 181 5, her biographer says : — 

'' Here then we reach a point in our heroine's life, which fixed upon her the eyes 
and wonder of all Europe. 

'' Three times a week, she held religious meetings, which were attended by all the 
princes, nobles, and great generals of Europe. There, in a simple black, or dark blue 
dress, with her hair cut close, and although past fifty, retaining traces of her former 
singular beauty, she addressed the assembled potentates in the most exalted strains 
of eloquence. 

' ' She exhorted them to put an end to the horrors of war, and inaugurate true 
Christianity, by peace on earth, and good will to men. 

" It was a strange spectacle, to see those who commanded the destinies of Europe 
sitting humbly at the feet of this inspired woman. 

'■Madame Von Kriidener, by the wonderful fulfilment of her predictions, and the 
inspiration of her preaching, had herself become one of the powers of Europe, and for 
a time, there is no doubt, that she actually directed the movements of the allied 
princes." 



36 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Few who read this description will fail to recognize in it, the characteris- 
tics which — with all due allowance for difference in surrounding circum- 
stances — distinguish the "trance-speaking mediums" of America, who, like 
Madame Kriidener, have become an irresistible power in the circle of their 
special ministrations. 

Up to the last quarter of a century, despite the universality with which 
spiritual gifts were manifested in individual cases, the tendency to 
materialism on the one hand, and intolerance on the other, succeeded 
in repressing the public advance of Spiritualism in Germany. No better 
illustration of this Teutonic conservatism can be given, than the antagonistic 
reception that was accorded to Baron Von E.eichenbach's brilliant 
discoveries, in what he termed " OdyUc or Od Force." 

Although Reichenbach's treatises on " Od Force," have been made 
familiar to English readers by Dr. Ashburner's fine translation, it may not 
be amiss to explain in brief the nature of Reichenbach's discoveries. This 
indefatigable scientist procured the aid of a large number of " Sensitives," 
or what would now be termed, clairvoyants or spirit mediums. 

These persons he placed in dark rooms, and then submitted to their 
spiritual sight, magnets, shells, crystals, minerals, animals, human hands, 
and a great variety of animate and inanimate objects, known only to him- 
self, but detected by the Sensitives, through the flames or luminous 
appearances, that each substance gave forth. 

These flames differed in colour, size, and intensity, according to the 
nature of the object examined, but as large numbers of persons fully 
corroborated each other's observations, and the Baron's experiments were 
conducted for years, with the most persevering attention, he conceived 
himself justified in arriving at the conclusion, that from every object in the 
human, animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, there emanated a force 
which could be detected under favourable conditions, as flames, or 
luminous appearances, and whilst some observers were disposed to regard 
these as the universal life of things, he (Reichenbach) for special reasons 
defined them in his writings as " Odyle," or " Od Force." 

Whatever name or style Von Reichenbach, Mesmer, Galvani, Volta, 
Newton, Paracelsus the Rosicrucian, or Geber the Alchemist, may have 
thought proper to give to the "force," or "element," of which they dis- 
coursed, the intelligent reader will be at no loss to correlate all such forces, 
and resolve them into the one all-pervading life principle of the Universe. 

It would be needless to enter upon further details of Von Reichenbach's 
discovery, to which no mere summary could do justice ; it is enough to say 
that when he first gave the result of his researches to the world, instead 
of winning the applause and gratitude of his countrymen, he simply drew 
down upon himself an amount of insult and contempt, of which the most 
unenlightened age might have been ashamed. 

In 1865, the first regular journal devoted to SpirituaHsm was published in 
Germany, under the title of Psyche. A contemporary French paper makes 
the following notice of this periodical in connection with the Baron Von 
Reichenbach's discoveries. 

"■Psyche is the only German paper treating of Spiritualism, odic force, and other \ 
kindred subjects, It is published monthly, and its chief editor is H. A, Berthe- [, 
lea, D.M,, Zittan, Saxony. Since this excellent little periodical was commenced, 
many fine works have been contributed to the treasury of spiritual literature, 
prominent amongst which stands a noble spiritual journal conducted by the eminent 
Russian Councillor Hon. Alexander Aksakof, entitled, Psychische Studien. It was first 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 37 

published at Leipzig, in 1874, since when it numbers amongst its contributors the 
honoured names of the Baron and Baroness von Vay, Prince Emil Wittgenstein ; 
Professors Maximilian Party, Wagner, Fichte, and a long list of potentates and 
scientists of high standing and distinguishad ability." 

For a more detailed account of its editor Alexander Aksakof, and the 
great services he has rendered to the cause of human progress, we must 
refer our readers to our section on Russian Spiritualism. 

Amongst the most distinguished supporters of the movement in Ger- 
many, we would again mention the Baroness von Vay, a highly-gifted 
seeress ; also Colonel and Mrs. Kyd, of Baden Baden ; His Imperial 
Highness Nicholas, Duke of Leuchtenberg ; the late amiable and lamented 
Princess Alice of Darmstadt, the Barons Holmfeld, Guldenstubbe, and de 
Palm, and many other celebrated Spiritualists of distinction. 

Still, Spiritualism as a cause, made but little public progress until the 
advent of the Davenports, Henry Slade, and other mediums from America, 
who, by their professional announcements, compelled the press to notice 
the subject, and draw forth investigators from the privacy of the salon, to 
the arena of public discussion. 

There are many reasons for believing that the demonstrations that had 
already been published abroad, in the shape of hauntings, obsessions, &c., 
had tended to repel rather than attract investigators. 

Thus, about 1865, when Spiritualism had completely captivated the 
American, and British mind, and in France, no less than six spiritual 
journals were liberally supported, Germany could only boast of the peri- 
odical before mentioned, called Psyche. 

About 1867, several works in exposition of Spiritualism were put forth 
at Vienna, and found a rapid sale in the establishments of Lechner and 
Wenedikt. 

Reports of American spirit photographs being taken, and stirring 
accounts of the phenomena produced through the mediumiship of the cele- 
brated Mr. D. D. Home, and Rollin Squire of America, were published 
in tract form, and widely circulated. 

1\i^ seances of the above named gentlemen being given non-professionally, 
were of course limited only to the favoured few with whom they were 
guests. Still the accounts of the marvels enacted in their presence, 
stimulated public curiosity to the highest pitch. About this time, several 
other works on the subject of Spiritualism were put forth, amongst them, a 
fine treatise on the Science of Soul, by Dr. Epps. This brochure became 
so popular, that the publishers could hardly keep pace with the demand. 

Private circles too began to multiply rapidly, but the chief impetus given 
to a wide-spread interest in the cause of Spirituahsm, was unquestionably 
due to the agency so much, and so unwisely denounced by many leaders 
of the Spiritual ranks, namely, professional mediumship. 

The distinguished services rendered to the cause by Mr. D. D. Home, 
were, as above remarked, confined to such influential personages as sought 
this gentleman's society, in the character of a friend and equal. 

The deUberate investigation of the subject, requisite for scientific experi- 
ments, could not be conducted in the presence of monarchs and princes, 
neither could the guest of such exalted personages be examined, with the 
severe scrutiny to which the Davenports, Messrs. Foster, Slade, and other 
professional mediums, have felt called upon to submit. 

Strictly speaking then, it is in a great measure due to the services of 
professional media, that Spiritualism has at last conquered the stolidity of 



38 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

German conservatism, and made itself known and acknowledged through- 
out the length and breadth of the land. 

With a view of rendering equal justice to both sides of the question, 
and to show how both public and private medium ship appeals each, to 
its appropriate class of minds, we shall present notices of each phase, 
commencing with a sketch taken from the book reviewer's notice in a 
recent number of the Banner of Light, concerning the mediumship of the 
gifted Baroness von Vay. The extract is as follows : — 

"VISIONEN IM WASSERGLASE," ETC. 

" We have received from Baroness Adelma von Vay, of Gonobitz, Austria, a copy 
of a work of some hundred pages, printed in the German tongue, in which a marked 
and novel phase of her mediumship is practically set forth to the reading; world. In 
her preface, this talented writer and worthy lady presents the object of the brochure as 
follows : — 

" ' In my book, " Studies of the Spirit- World," I have mentioned my visions wit- 
nessed in a glass of water. For the benefit of the reader who has not perused that 
work, I here present the following explanation of those visions from the " Studies," 
page 85 :— 

" ' Our spirit guides advised me to make the attempt to see visions in a glass of water. 
They disclosed to me one day that I possessed the gift of being able to see spirits 
without becoming somnambulic. They said I was to fill a glass with water, and look 
therein, and they would then produce spiritual representations in the same. Upon 
making the trial, I immediately saw all kinds of objects in the water. At first the 
water seemed to be agitated ; by degrees the pictures appeared at the brim of the 
glass. I perceive these visions only in the evening, never by day, and I must feel dis- 
posed thereto through an earnest desire for the same. I am in a normal condition — 
i. e., in full consciousness of what I observe and say. The desire of others to see this 
or that picture has absolutely no influence upon me. These pictures often remain a 
long time in the same place, others again disappear instantaneously. They often 
appear to be much larger than the surface of the glass would seem to permit ; some- 
times appear like photographs, then again in colors, or like brilliant light cloud- 
pictures. As I perceive the visions in the water I dictate the view to my husband, 
Baron Eugene von Vay, who transcribes it, and it is then explained by my guides. 

' Adelma Vay.' " 

For some time previous to the breaking out of the Russian war with 
Turkey, Professor Boutlerof, and M. Aksakof, both eminent Russian scien- 
tists, had agreed with their immediate friends, to engage Dr. Slade, of 
America, to assist them in a series of experiments on the subject of physical 
force mediumship, in which direction, Dr. Slade bore a high reputation. 

The disturbed state of -Russia in consequence of the late war, measu- 
rably interfered with this project, and though some satisfactory seances were 
conducted, the investigation did not assume the character originally 
intended. 

During Dr. Slade's tour through Europe however, he was induced to give 
a special course of seances, to some of the Professors of the Leipzig 
University, the result of which was, that six of that distinguished body, 
gave in their testimony to the truthfulness of Dr. Slade, and signed a docu- 
ment, absolving him from the slightest implication of fraud or personal 
agency in the manifestations. 

Now if report speaks truly, at least five of the savants have yielded assent 
to the claim of a spiritual origin for the marvellous effects they witnessed, 
whilst the sixth, now to the grief of his many friends the late Professor 
Zoellner, issued a work, entitled *' Transcendental Physics," in which, 
though attempting to show that the wondrous phenomena he described, 
were due to the interference of " a force," which he vaguely defined, as, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 39 

' a fourth dimension in space," he yet fully endorsed the truthfulness of 
Slade, acquitted him of any attempt at imposition; described the super- 
mundane character of the results produced, and challenged the world of 
science to account for the same, on any hypothesis, save the spiritual one 
alleged by the Medium, or his own (Zoellner's) theory of " a fourth dimen- 
sion in space." 

The amazing statements put forth by authorities so eminent as Zoellner, 
and the other Leipzig professors, have not only awakened universal interest 
throughout Germany, but they have also attracted world-wide attention, 
and amongst other unlooked for effects, provoked a curious discussion in 
America, to which it will now be in order to make some allusion. 

A certain blatant preacher and lecturer, one, Rev. Joseph Cook, of Bos- 
ton, America, during a course of what he announced as " Scientific Reli- 
gious Lectures," made the Leipzig professor's investigations, the subject of 
several addresses. In these, he read aloud, numerous extracts from Pro- 
fessor Zoellner's book, and commented freely on the astonishing 
phenomena there recorded. 

Whilst the Rev. Joseph Cook was thus making converts to the Spiritual 
cause, of all those listeners who were prone to beUeve on the authority of 
others, he seemed to have forgotten, how far he was committing himself, in 
the opinion of those clerical brethren, to whom Spiritualism has been the 
grand bete noir of the age. Beginning to reaUze possibly that he had gone 
too far, yet unable to unsay what he had already said, or explain away the 
marvels on which he had so freely descanted, he undertook to beat a 
retreat in the following creditable (?) fashion. 

In a lecture to be given by him at Saratoga, New York, for the bene- 
fit of some Christian Church, Mr. Cook announced, that he would take 
that opportunity of setting himself right, on the question of Spiritualism. 
Feeling possibly, that the " ism " itself, as underlying the entire structure of 
the religion he, and all other Christians profess, was too much for him 
to grapple with, Mr. Cook proceeded to set himself right, before an 
immense audience, including a large number of highly respectable 
SpirituaHsts, by pouring forth upon the latter, as a class, such a string of 
vituperation, and abuse, as to call the blush of shame to the cheeks of 
every listener present. 

At the request of the indignant SpirituaHsts of the place, the author, 
who was one of the Rev. Joseph Cook's audience, gave a review of, and 
answer to this address, in a lecture delivered the following evening. Thus 
the whole subject was re-opened, and from the reports taken down on that 
occasion, graphic accounts of what actually occurred in the presence of the 
Leipzig professors, as detailed by Mr. Cook himself, were placed side by 
side, with the vituperations which he had just poured out against those 
who believed in the facts he had been at such pains to relate. Without 
any farther preface we shall quote as much of the author's lecture, as will 
re-state Cook's account of the Leipzig investigations. Mrs. Hardinge 
Britten said : — 

'' In the Journal of February 21st, of this year, I find a report of a lecture delivered 
by Mr. Joseph Cook in Boston, on the 3rd of that month, in which he gives a full 
account of some noteworthy experiments of six distinguished German scientists, 
whose spiritual investigations with Henry Slade, the American medium, were pub- 
lished in a work written quite recently by Prof. Zoellner, Professor of Physical 
Astronomy at Leipzig University. Without attempting to reiterate experiments which 
seemed as amazing to Mr. Cook and the Leipzig scientists, as they are familiar, and 



40 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

their recital stale and uninteresting to experienced Spiritualists, I must still commend 
to your attention the following extracts from Mr. Cook's lecture. He says :— 

'"Six renowned German names to their own credit or discredit can now be quoted 
in the list of believers'in the reality of the alleged facts of the modern psychical or 
spiritual manifestations. They are Profs. Zoellner, Fechner, and Sctieibner, of 
Leipzig University ; Prof. Weber, of Gottingen University ; Prof. Fichte, of Stuttgart, 
and Prof. Ulrici, of Halle University.' 

" After detailing minutely what is the standing and reputation of these emment 
scholars, and describing with equal care the phenomena they witnessed, he, Mr. Cook, 
goes on to descant on the high moral character and intellectual ability of a certam 
Signer Bellachini, Court Conjurer of Germany. This gentleman, he shows, havmg 
called on Henry Slade, and witnessed many of his manifestations, given both at 
Slade's lodgings and the conjurer's own apartments, tendered to Slade a sworn 
affidavit to the effect that no conjuration known to him could account for the extraor- 
dinary demonstrations of occult power and intelligence he had thus witnessed. 
Bellachini, like a true man, as well as a true artist, commends Mr. Slade's manifesta- 
tions to the respectful consideration of science, and deprecates any unfavourable 
judgments that may be passed upon it hastily, or without thorough investigation. 
This manly testimonial, legally witnessed and duly filed, Mr. Cook read out in full. 

'■ His next noteworthy remarks are as follows, and are given verbatim from a work 
on ' Psychography ' recently published in London by M. A. Oxon. 

" ' Henry Slade having proceeded to St. Petersburg to fulfill his engagement with 
Mr. Aksakof and Prof. Boutlerof, and to present the phenomena of psychography to 
the scrutiny of a committee of scientific experts, has had a series of successful sittings 
in the course of which writing has been obtained In the Prussian language. At one 
recent sitting, writing in six different languages was obtained on a single slate. 

" ' On Wednesday, February 20th, accompanied by Mr. Aksakof and Prof, 
Boutlerof, Slade had a most successful sitting with the Grand Duke Constantine, who 
received them cordially, and himself obtained writing on a new slate held by himself 
alone.' 

" Mr. Cook next goes on to describe a fresh set of experiments, remarkable enough 
to early investigators, but sufficiently familiar to us as the phenomenon of writing 
obtained m closed slates, &c. Mr. Cook also read out in detail the account of a very 
curious phenomenon, being no other than the sudden disappearance of a small table 
in a light room, which for several minutes was thoroughly searched in vain to find it. 
Whilst the amazed Prof. Zoellner, was continuing his fruitless attempts to account 
for the disappearance of this ponderable body, it appeared as suddenly as it had^disap- 
peared, floating in the air just below the ceiling — the legs upwards. From thence, it 
floated down and was laid by invisible hands gently on another piece of furniture. In 
commenting upon this extraordinary manifestation Mr. Cook says: — 

" ' The mechanical theory of matter is exploded if Zoellner's alleged facts can be 
proved to be real, but here are grave experts who unite in assuring the world that 
these events occurred under their own eyesight. [Then how dare Mr. Cook insert his 
presumption if in this category ?] Here is the Court Conjurer who says he can do 
nothing of the kind. I hold in my hand a volume by Fichte, and he says, quoting 
these experiments, and naming the professors who witnessed them, that he could him- 
self, if he were authorised, give in addition to these names many others in Germany 
who by the experiments at Leipzig, have been convinced of the reality of the facts and 
of their worthiness to be made the subject of scientific research.' 

" But Mr. Cook does not stop here. He gives yet more facts, details yet more of the 
Leipzig experiments and after the recital of one remarkable bomb-shell thrown into 
the camp of materialism, breaks forth into the following bombastic burst of oratory : — 

" ' If this single circumstance attested by the Leipzig professors is a fact, it blows 
to the four moons of Jupiter the whole materialistic mechanical theory of matter. 
The materialism of ages is answered by a simple fact like this. But here we have 
these six men agreeing these Leipzig assertions are worthy of credence.' Save and 
except the insolent imbecile if, with which Mr. Cook commences this paragraph, and 
the possibility which that if implies, that the six Leipzig professors who have investi- 
gated, don't know as much by aid of their senses, as he. Cook, does, who had not then 
investigated, without the aid of his senses ; this paragraph alone shows that when he 
was dealing with grand dukes, eminent professors and men of higher rank than he 
could have ever before dealt with, the manifestations were worthy of all credence, and 
blew opposing theories to the four moons of Jupiter. But when he, Cook, feels the 
hand of clerical pressure hard upon him, and he is in his own country, and amongst 
his own circle of grundy-worshipping priests and deacons, he is accused of believing 
that which his spiritual pastors and masters desire him not to believe, grand dukes, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 41 

emperors, statesmen, kings, queens, princes and princesses ; nobles, potentates, pro- 
fessors without end; magistrates, lawyers, doctors, ladies, gentlemen, mechanics, 
operatives, clergymen, peasants, for all these grades and every other unnamed, make 
up the tens of millions of European, Asiatic, Australian, Indian, and American 
Spiritualism — all these become at once vermin, reptiles, toads, frogs, snakes, monsters, 
wretches, &c., together with every other hard and vulgar name, which this truly 
Christian man's vocabulary can supply." 

We must apologize to our readers for the insertion of the above choice 
collection of epithets. All we can say is, that the language — although strangely 
out of place in this book — was used by one who called himself a " gentle- 
man," and a Christian minister ; the author only repeats it, for the sake of 
giving the paragraph, in which the present status of Spiritualism is summed 
up, in its entirety, 

We have now brought to a close, all that our space will allow us to give, 
concerning the progress of Spiritualism in Germany, during the nineteenth 
century, up to the present date. 

Germany ! The land of Anton Mesmer, the modern discoverer of the 
true Elixir Vitce, and the master mind from whom Puys^gur, and 
Barberini, derived that inspiration, which proclaimed to the world the 
power of the soul to transcend the barriers of time and space ! Land of 
Zschocke, whose sensitive spirit detected the invisible soul of things ; of 
Kerner, that brave and good physician, who dared the sneers of materialism, 
and the threats of dogmatism, in proclaiming abroad the stupendous facts 
of the soul's return, beyond the grave. Land of Schubert, Werner, Kant, 
and Fichte ! Land where the soul enfranchised by the wand of magnetism, 
was first made free to soar away into the realms of the inimitable, and 
bring back tidings from the shores of the eternal beyond ! 

Germany ! The country from which the noble Aksakof could freely 
send abroad the message of spiritual hght and life through the columns of 
a high-toned press ! where sages and schoolmen, princes and potentates, 
listen in reverend silence, to the oracles of inspired utterances. Ger- 
many ! The land bound up in the external fetters of cold materialism, 
but inwardly illuminated by spiritual gifts of such wondrous potency, that 
it only needs to remove the barriers of social and conventional restraint, 
liberate the mind, and permit the soul and its possibilities free expression, 
to make it the church of humanity, from which all the rays of spiritual 
sunlight shall stream forth, to illuminate, bless, and elevate, the entire family 
of mankind. 



CHAPTER VIL 



SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE. 



Although the sameness which prevails in reports of all phenomena arising 
from a common source, must to a great extent mar the interest of the 
present record, there are two features of compensation' even in this respect 
which must not be overlooked. The first is, the circumstantial evidence 
which this very sameness affords, to the unity of the source from whence 
" Spiritual manifestations " are derived. And next ; we cannot fail to 



42 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

observe, that certain characteristic features of variety are impressed upon 
those manifestations by the peculiarities of the people to whom they are 
addressed. 

Turning our lens of observation from Germany to France, we find the 
same historical proofs that the phenomena derived from the practices 
of animal magnetism, which antedated the unfoldment of Spiritualism in 
the one country, are just as strikingly demonstrated in the other. The 
impressions produced upon the people of these two lands, however, 
were totally different. 

In Germany, the physical and scientific aspects of SpirituaHsm have found 
more favour than its religious tendencies. In France it is otherwise. 
There, the national characteristics are impulsive, and emotional, hence 
Spiritualistic teachings have promoted the formation of new sects, and 
inspired its votaries with a deep rehgious sentiment. Mesmer, with 
characteristic caution, never sanctioned any advance beyond the physical 
results of his discoveries, whilst his followers Puysegur, and Barberini, 
soared away into the spiritual realms to which the enfranchised souls of 
their somnambulists pointed the way. 

Very soon after public attention had been drawn to the subject of 
magnetism in France, by Drs. Mesmer and d'Eslon, several gentlemen 
distinguished for learning and scientific attainments, followed up their 
experiments with great success. 

Amongst these was the Baron Dupotet whose deep interest in the subject 
of magnetism induced him to publish a fine periodical which, under the 
title of Journal du Magnetisme — still forms a complete treasury of well 
collated facts, and curious experiments in occult force. 

From this work we learn, that the Baron's investigations commenced in 
the year 1836, since which period up to 1848, he chronicled the produc- 
tion of the following remarkable phases of phenomena, the occurrence of 
which is testified to by numerous scientific and eminent witnesses. 

Through the Baron's magnetized subjects was evolved, clairvoyance, 
trance-speaking, and healing ; the stigmata or raised letters and figures on 
the subject's body; elevation of somnambuUsts into the air; insensibility 
to fire, injury, or touch. In the presence of the magnetized subjects also, 
heavy bodies were moved without human contact, and objects were brought 
from distant places through walls and closed doors. Sometimes the 
"Lucides" described scenes in the spirit world, found lost property, 
prophesied and spoke in foreign languages. 

In these seances., styled by the Baron in later years, magical^ apparitions 
presented themselves in crystals, water, mirrois, and often in forms, 
tangible alike to the sight attd touch of all present. 

Amongst the witnesses to these seances were Messrs. Bertrand, d'Hunin, 
Seguin, and Morin ; men whose position in the world of science rendered 
their testimony absolutely unquestionable. 

In 1840, Baron Dupotet writes that he had "rediscovered in magnetism 
the magic of antiquity." " Let the savants,'" he says, "reject the doctrine 
of spiritual appearances ; the enquirer of to-day is compelled to believe it, 
from an examination of undeniable facts." . . . "If the knowledge of 
ancient magic is lost, all the facts remain on which to reconstruct it." 

The Baron after summing up the phenomena named above, challenges 
the world, of science either to account for, or disprove them. 

But of all the revelators to whom French Spiritualists are indebted for 
indubitable proof of super-mundane intercourse, none stands more prominent 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 43 

in truthfulness and worth, than M. Cahagnet, the well-known author of 
"The Celestial Telegraph," a work translated into English in 1848. 

M. Cahagnet was an unlearned mechanic, a man of the people, and 
though a sensible and interesting writer, was neither well read, nor highly 
educated. He affirms that he was a " Materialist " when first his attention 
was attracted to the subject of animal magnetism, but being of a thoughtful 
nature, he determined to devote all the leisure he could spare to a thorough 
examination of its possibilities. When he found that he possessed the 
power to induce the magnetic sleep in others, he proceeded on the plan 
then generally adopted by mesmerists, namely, to try how far he could 
succeed in biologizing his subjects, that is to say, to substitute his own 
senses, mind, and will, for those of the sleeper. 

In the course of these experiments M. Cahagnet discovered, that he could 
effect remarkable cures of disease, and being naturally of a benevolent dis- 
position, he determined to bend all his energies in this desirable direction. 

He soon found however, that he was destined to realize the aphorism, 
" he builded wiser than he knew." A new and most perplexing obstacle 
arose to confound his philosophy and scatter his theories to the winds ; this 
was the fact, that some of his subjects, instead of representing what simply 
he willed, or manifesting — in accordance with his views of biology — merely 
the influence of his mind, began to transcend both will and mind, and 
wander off in space, to regions they persisted in calling the " land of 
spirits," and to describe people, whom they emphatically affirmed to be 
the souls of those, the world called dead. 

For a long time M. Cahagnet strove vehemently to combat what he 
termed these " wild hallucinations," but when he found them constantly 
recurring, and vast numbers of those who had come to witness the experi- 
ments in magnetism, recognizing in the descriptions given by the somnam- 
buUsts, the spirits of those whom they had known on earth, and mourned 
as dead, conviction became inevitable, and the magnetizer, like his visitors, 
was compelled to admit a new and wonderful phase of lucidity, and one 
which carried the vision of the clairvoyant from earth to heaven, and 
pierced the veil which separated the mortal from the realms of immortality. 

It was after a long series of carefully conducted experiments of the above 
description, that M. Cahagnet was finally persuaded to give the results of 
his wonderful seances to the world, under the name and style of "The 
Celestial Telegraph," or, " Secrets of the Life to Come." 

The following extract from the introduction to the second volume of 
these " Secrets," will give the reader some idea of the cautious spirit in 
which this excellent investigator estabhshed the authenticity of his revela- 
tions. He says : 

" When in January 1848, I presented the public with the first volume of the 
' Secrets,' I was unable to verify the facts therein contained by any testimony but 
my own. 

" My position as a simple workman — my very confined social relations, absolutely 
null in the scientific world, — could give no weight to the statements I had propounded, 
I felt that despite their truth, I ought to support these revelations by honourable 
testimonials. To attain this end, I have given apparition sittings to persons who 
solicited them, and now I can surround my own name with multitudes of others 
whom the public venerate as authorities. In this second volume, I present to the 
world a vast number of testimonials to apparitions obtained, recognized, and 
testified of in writing, as true, by princes, nobles, generals, pastors of many creeds, 
merchants, men of letters, artisans, personages of all classes, and many nations, all of 
whom are ready to confirm by verbal testimony the acknowledgments signed at my 
abode." 



44 mNETEJ&NTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

About the year 1848, M. Cahagnet, having become very familiar with 
somnambulic revelations from the world of spirits, through several of the 
most remarkable and lucid subjects of the age, received a number of com- 
munications affirming the fact of the soul's existence anterior to its 
appearance upon earth. Whilst denying emphatically any behef in the 
doctrine of Re-incarnation and declaring against it in the most positive 
terms, the communicating spirits uniformly alleged that, when freed from 
the trammels of matter, they all remembered having lived in an anterior 
state of purity and innocence as spirits ; that they perceived how truly and 
wisely their earthly lives were designed for probationary purposes, and 
meant to impart vigour and knowledge to the soul ; but that once 
undergone, it was never again repeated, and the return of the soul to its 
former spiritual state was never interrupted by re-incarnations on earth. 
These spirits, too, alleged that the sphere of eternity afforded the souls of 
evil or unprogressed men all the opportunities necessary to purify them 
from sin and its effects, through innumerable stages of progress. 

As being peculiarly apposite to the subject discussed in this chapter, 
especially in commenting on the great French magnetists, who may be 
justly ranked as the Joh7i Baptists, who ushered in the Messianic Spiritual 
movement of the nineteenth century, we call attention to the following 
quotations from the recondite work entitled " Art Magic." On page 433 
the author says : 

" The narrow conservatism of the age, and the pitiful jealousy of the Medical 
Faculty, rendered it diificult and harassing to conduct magnetic experiments openly 
in Europe within several years of Mesmer's decease. Still such experiments were not 
wanting, and to show their results, we give a few excerpts from the correspondence 
between the famous French Magnetists, MM. Deleuze and Billot, from the years 
1829 to 1840. By these letters, pubhshed in 1836, it appears that M. Billot com- 
menced his experiments in magnetizing as early as 1789, and that during forty years, 
he had an opportunity of witnessing facts in clairvoyance, ecstasy, and somnambulism, 
which at the time of their publication transcended the belief of the general mass of 
readers. On many occasions in the presence of entranced subjects, spirits recognized 
as having once lived on earth in mortal form — would come in bodily presma before the 
eyes of an assembled company and at request, bring flowers, fruits, and objects, 
removed by distance from the scene of the experiments. 

" M. Deleuze frankly admits that his experience was more limited to those phases 
of somnambulism in which his subjects submitted to amputations and severe surgical 
operations without experiencing the slightest pain. ... In a letter dated 1831 M. 
Billot writing to Deleuze says : — 

" ' I repeat, I have seen and known all that is permitted to man. I have seen the 
stigmata arise on magnetized subjects ; I have dispelled obsessions of evil spirits with 
a single word. I have seen spirits bring those material objects I told you of, and 
when requested, make them so light that they would float, and, again a small boiteau 
de bonbons was rendered so heavy, that I failed to move it an inch until the power was 
removed." 

" 'To those who enjoyed the unspeakable privilege of listening to the '' somnam- 
bules " of Billot, Deleuze, and Cahagnet, another and yet more striking feature of 
unanimous revelation was poured forth. Spirits of those who had passed away from 
earth strong in the faith of Roman Catholicism — often priests and dignitaries of that 
conservative Church, addressing prejudiced believers in their former doctrine, asserted 
that there was no creed in Heaven — no sectarian worship, or ecclesiastical dogmatism 
there prevailing. 

" ' They taught that God was a grand Spiritual Sun — life on earth a probation ;— 
the spheres, different degrees of Compensative happiness or states of retributive suffer- 
ing ; — each appropriate to the good or evil deeds done on earth. They described the 
ascending changes open to every soul in proportion to its own efforts to improve. 

" 'They all insisted that man was his own judge, incurred a penalty or reward for 
which there was no substitution. They taught nothing of Christ, absolutely denied 
the idea of vicarious atonement — and represented man as his oWll Saviour or 
destroyer. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



45 



" 'They spoke of arts, sciences, and continued activities, as if the life beyond was 
but an extension of the present on a greatly improved scale. Descriptions of the 
radiant beauty, supernal happiness, and ecstatic sublimity manifested by the blest 
spirits who had risen to the spheres of paradise, Heaven, and the glory of Angelic 
companionship, melts the heart, and fills the soul with irresistible yearnings to lay 
down life's weary burdens and be at rest with them.' " 

It seems unfortunate for the good people who insist upon making a 
heaven or hell to suit themselves, and whose strong sectarian bias, induces 
them to banish every spirit from their presence who presumes to deny their 
views, that Cahagnet's revelating angels would neither endorse Catholicism, 
Protestantism, or Re-incarnation. 

Having shown that Spiritualism arose in France as in Germany from the 
awakening of soul powers evolved by magnetism and traced the footprints 
of the great temple builders who have laid the foundation stones of the 
mighty Spiritual edifice in the human system, and steadily worked upwards 
from matter to force, and from thence to spirit in every gradation of 
sphere, life and progress, we recall the pithy words of the Baron Dupotet, 
who, addressing the would-be leaders of public opinion in his splendid 
essay on the " Philosophical Teaching of Magnetism," says : 

" You savants of our country ; you have not shown yourselves better informed than 
the Siamese. 

'' For these sixty years it has been shouted in your ears, The magnetizers march to 
the discovery of a moral world ; all the phenomena they produce indisputably prove its 
existence. 

" You have declared that they were impostors, imbeciles, and the most illustrious 
amongst you, have only pronounced a verdict which will attest to future ages your 
ignorance or your insincerity. 

'' Before the soul is disengaged from matter, it can, and does, converse with pure 
spirits. Already it can gaze prophetically on its own future destiny, by regarding the 
condition of those who have gone before ; — but a step ; — yet one, which the eye of 
spirit alone can measure, and if men are spirits already, who can stay the eagle glance 
of the soul into the land of its own inheritance ? " 

In following up the history of Spiritualism in France, although we find it 
has gained an immense foothold, and exerted a wide-spread influence upon 
the popular mind, it is nevertheless evident, that one of the chief 
obstacles to its general acceptance has been its lack of internal unity, and 
the antagonistic sentiments which have prevailed amongst its acknowledged 
leaders. 

Two of those who have figured most prominently in the grand drama of 
French Spiritualism, and in all probability exerted more influence upon 
public opinion than any other members of its dramatis personce, were 
MM. Allan Kardec and Pierart the respective editors of the two leading 
Spiritual journals entitled La Revue Spirife and La Revue Spiritualiste. 
These gentlemen may be also regarded as the representatives of the two 
opposing factions known as 

SPIRITUALISTS AND SPIRITISTS 

the former teaching, that the soul of man undergoes but one mortal birth, 
and continues its progress through eternity in spiritual states, the latter 
affirming the doctrine of Re-incarnation, and alleging that the one spirit in 
man can and does undergo many incarnations in different mortal forms. 

It will be understood that M. Kardec and his followers represent the 
" Spiritists " or re-incarnationists — M. Pierart leading the ranks of the 
opposing faction most commonly called Spiritualists. 



46 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

To M. Kardec has been generally attributed the merit or demerit — as 
the case may be — of originating the doctrine of Re-incarnation, — at least as 
that doctrine is taught in this century. This is quite a mistake, as will be 
shown by the following extracts, taken from a paper published in the 
London S;piritualist of 1875, and written by the accomplished scholar and 
statesman, the Hon. Alexander Aksakof. As the duty of a faithful 
historian is rather to record facts, than enunciate opinions, we shall make 
no apology for introducing M. Aksakofs paper to the attention of the 
reader, however much it may seem to savour of partisanship. It is entitled 

" RESEARCHES ON THE HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF THE RE-INCARNATION 
SPECULATIONS OF FRENCH SPIRITUALISTS : — 

" In view of the approaching publication of translations in the English language of 
the works of Allan Kardec, of which the principal volume, ''The Spirits' Book," is 
already out, I feel it my duty to lay before the English public the result of my 
researches in the direction of the origin of the dogma of Reincarnation. When 
" Spiritism," newly baptised with this name, and embodied in the form of a doc- 
trine by Kardec, began to spread in France, nothing astonished me more than the 
divergence of this doctrine from that of "Spiritualism," touching the point of 
Reincarnation. This divergence was the more strange because the sources of the 
contradictory affirmations claim to be the same, namely the spirit-world and commu- 
nications given by spirits. As Spiritism was born in 1856 with the publication of the 
" Book of Spirits," it is clear that to solve this enigma it was necessary to begin with 
the historical origin of this book. It is remarkable that nov/here, either in this volume 
or in any of his others, does Kardec give upon this head the slightest detail. And 
why was this? the essential point in all serious criticisms being to know before all 
things how such a book came into existence ? As I did not live in Paris, it was 
difficult for me to procure the necessary information ; all that I could learn was that 
a certain somnambulist, known by the name of Celina Japhet, had contributed largely 
to the work, but that she had been dead for a long time. During my stay in Paris in 
1873, I explained to a Spiritualistic friend my regret that I had never met this 
somnambulist in life, to which he replied that he had also heard that she was dead, 
but he doubted whether the rumour was true ; also that he had reason to suppose 
that this was nothing but a rumour spread abroad by the Spiritists, and that it would, 
be well if I made further personal inquiry. 

" He gave me the former address of Madame Japhet, and what was my astonish- 
ment and joy to find her in perfect health. When I told her of my surprise she 
replied, that it was nothing new to her, for the Spiritists were actually making her pass 
for a dead person. 

" Here is the substance of what she was obliging enough to give me. 

" Mdlle. Celina Bequet was a natural somnambulist from childhood. About sixteen 
years of age she was mesmerised for the first time by Ricard. In 1841 she was 
attacked with a serious illness which confined her to her bed for twenty-seven months. 

" Finding no relief from medicine, she was put into the mesmeric sleep by her 
brother. She then prescribed the necessary remedies, and after six weeks, could leave 
her bed, and walk by aid of crutches. At last, after about eleven months, she entirely 
recovered her health. 

" In 1845, she went to Paris to search for M. Ricard, and made the acquaintance 
of M. Roustan at the house of M. Millet a mesmerist. 

" She then, for family reasons, took the name of Japhet, and became a professional 
somnambulist under the control of M. Roustan. In this position she remained till 
about 1848. Under her assumed name, she gave medical advice by the direction of 
the spirits of her grandfather, Hahnemann, and Mesmer, from each of whom she 
received a great many commuDications. 

" In this manner also the doctrine of re-incarnation was given her, hy the spirits of 
her grandfather, St. Teresa and others. As the somnambulic powers of Madame Japhet 
were developed under the mesmeric influence of M. Roustan, it may be well to remark 
in this place, that M. Roustan himself believed in the plurality of terrestrial existences. 
(See Cahagnet's Sanctuaire au Spiritualisme. Paris, 1850. p. 164. Since dated — 1848. 

" In 1849, Madame d'Abnour on her return from America, desired to form a circle 
for spiritual phenomena, of which she had lately been a witness. For this purpose 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 47 

she called upon M. de Guldenstubbe, by whom M. Roustan and Celina Japhet were 
asked to become members of his spirit circle. 

" This circle was joined by the Abbe Chatel, and the three Demoiselles Bauvrais ; 
it consisted of nine persons, and met once a week at the house of Madame Japhet, 46, 
Rue des Martyrs, afterwards, almost up to the time of the war of 1870, it met twice 
a week. 

"In 1855, the circle was composed of M. Taillandier, M. Tillman, M. Sagia (since 
dead) Messrs. Sardou father and son, Madame Japhet, and M. Roustan, who con- 
tinued a member of it until about 1864. They began by making a chain, American 
fashion, in form of a horse-shoe, round Madame Celina, and they obtained spiritual 
phenomena more or less remarkable ; but soon Madame Celina developed as a writing 
medium, and it was through that channel that the greater part of the communications 
were obtained. 

" In 1856 she met M. Denizard Rivail, introduced by M. Victorien Sardou. He 
correlated the materials by a number of questions ; himself arranged the whole in 
systematic order, and published 'The Spirits' Book' without ever mentioning the 
name of Madame C. Japhet, although three-quarters of this book had been given 
through her mediumship. The rest was obtained from communications through 
Madame Bodin, who belonged to another spirit-circle. She is not mentioned except 
on the last page of the first number of the Revue Spirite, where, in consequence of 
the number of reproaches that were addressed to him, he makes a short mention of 
her. As he was also attached to an important journal, VUnivers, he published 
his book under the names which he had borne in his two previous existences. One of 
these names was Allan— a fact revealed to him by Madame Japhet, and the other 
name of Kardec was revealed to him by the medium Roze. After the publication of 
the ' Book of Spirits,' of which Kardec did not even present one copy to Madame 
Japhet, he quitted the circle and arranged another in his own house, M. Roze being 
the medium. When he thus left, he possessed a mass of manuscript which he had 
carried off from the house of Madame Japhet, and he availed himself of the right of 
an editor by never giving it back again. To the numerous requests for its return which 
were made to him, he contented himself by replying, ' Let her go to law with me.' 
These manuscripts were to some extent useful in the compilation of the ' Book of 
Mediums,' of which all the contents, so says Madame Japhet, had been obtained 
through medial communications. 

" It would be essential in order to complete this article to review the ideas on pre- 
existence and on reincarnation which were strongly in vogue in France just before 
1850. An abstract of these will be found in the work of M. Pezzani on ' The Plurality 
of Existences.' The works of Cahagnet should also be consulted. As I am now away 
from my library, it is impossible for me to give the relative points exactly. 

'' In addition to the foregoing supplementary details, bearing upon the origin of 
" The Book of Spirits " and the different points connected therewith, testimony ought to 
be obtained from living witnesses to throw light upon the conception and birth of this 
book, such as Madame Japhet, Mdlle. de Guldenstubbe, M. Sardou, and M. 
Tallandier. The last continues up to the present time to work with Madame Japhet 
as a medium ; she is still in possession of her somnambulic powers, and continues to 
give consultations. She sends herself off to sleep by means of objects which have been 
mesmerised by M. Roustan. I think it a duty on this occasion to testify to the excellence 
of her lucidity. I consulted her about myself, and she gave me exact information as 
to a local malady, and as to the state of my health in general. Now is it not astonish- 
ing that this remarkable person, who has done so much for French Spiritism, should 
be living entirely unknown for twenty years, and no notice or remark made about her ? 
Instead of being the centre of public attention she is totally ignored ; in fact, they 
have buried her alive ! Let us hope that reparation which is due to her will be made 
one day. " Spiritualism " might, in this matter, offer a noble example to " Spiritism." 

" Now to return to the question of Reincarnation. I leave it to English critics to 
draw their deductions from the facts which I unravelled by my researches, incomplete 
though they be ; I will do no more than throw out the following ideas : That the pro- 
pagation of this doctrine by Kardec was a matter of strong predilection is clear ; from 
the beginning, Reincarnation has not been presented as an object of study, but as a 
dogma. To sustain it he has always had resource to writing mediums, who it is well 
known pass so easily under the psychological influence of preconceived ideas ; and 
Spiritism has engendered such in profusion ; whereas through physical mediums the 
communications are not only more objective, but always contrary to the doctrine of 
Reincarnation. Kardec adopted the plan of always disparaging this kind of medium- 
ship, alleging as a pretext its moral inferiority. Thus the experimental method is 
altogether unknown in Spiritism ; for twenty years it has not made the slightest 



48 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

intrinsic progress, and it has remained in total ignorance of Anglo-American Spiri- 
tualism ! The few French physical mediums who developed their power in spite of 
Kardec, were never mentioned by him in the Revue ; they remained almost unknown 
to Spiritists,. and only because their spirits did not support the doctrine of Reincarna- 
tion ! Thus Camile Bredif, a very good physical medium, acquired celebrity only in 
consequence of his visit to St. Petersburg. I do not remember ever to have seen in 
the Revue Spirits the slightest notice of him, still less any descriptions of manifesta- 
tions produced in his presence. Knowing the reputation of Mr. Home, Kardec made 
several overtures to get him upon his side ; he had two interviews with him for this 
purpose, but as Mr. Home told him that spirits who had communicated through him 
never endorsed the idea of Reincarnation, he thenceforth ignored him, thereby disre- 
garding the value of the manifestations which were produced in his presence. I have 
upon this head a letter from Mr. .Home, although at the present moment it is not 
within reach. 

" In conclusion ; it is scarcely necessary to point out that all that I have herein 
stated does not affect the question of Reincarnation, considered upon its own merits, 
but only concerns the causes of its origin and of its propagation as Spiritisih." 

" Chateau de Krotofka, Russia, July 24, 1875." 

Without attempting to offer any comments on M. Aksakofs narrative — 
the plain facts of which speak for themselves — it may be remarked, that 
in most magnetic operations, it is generally found that the first effects pro- 
duced, are deep somnolency, or a sleep-waking state. The next is most 
commonly the biological condition, in which the subject represents the 
mind, will, sense, &c., of the magnetizer ; and the next succeeding that, is a 
condition beyond and independent of the operator, in which an invisible 
spirit often takes control, and substitudes his mind, will, and sense, for that 
of the earthly magnetizer. This last named degree is now recognised, as 
" Spirit Mediumship." It is one which may or may not be induced by 
human magnetism, but whenever it does ensue, the power of the human 
mind ceases to operate, and that of the spirit controlling takes its place. 
Now whilst we have abundant historical testimony to show that this condi- 
tion of spiritual control was attained by the " lucides " of Messrs. Billot, 
Dupotet, and Cahagnet, we have no such evidence of independent spiritual 
influence operating upon Madame Japhet, whilst she was the magnetic 
subject of M. .Roustan. How powerful this gentleman's magnetism must 
have been, and how completely Madame Japhet was dependent upon his 
control, we learn from her own acknowledgment to M. Aksakof, namely, 
that she still gives consultations, and sends herself off to sleeps by mea?is of 
objects which have been mesmerized by M. Roustan, 

What stronger proof can we have that the controlling spirit of Madame 
Japhet was M. Roustan ? and that " The Book of Spirits," emanated far 
more reasonably from his biological impression, than from the saints, 
apostles, martyrs, and other historical celebrities, to whom it has been 
attributed ? 

Still it may be asked by the devotees of the re-incarnation theory, of 
what consequence is it whether this doctrine was first taught by Roustan, 
or Kardec, so long as it is true ? Aye even so ! So long as it is true! 
That indeed is the main question ; but ere it can be answered, another 
arises, and that is. How can the truth of this doctrine be tested ? and again ; 
Can we arrive at any veritable knowledge of spiritual existence except from 
spirits themselves, and that in communications given under conditions 
which preclude the possibility of human interference or bias ? 

To this it may be objected, that no such independent conditions exist, 
the general opinion being, that spirit communications are always more or 
less tinctured by the characteristics of the medium through whom the 
intelligence is given. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 49 

Whilst we admit the force of this objection to a certain extent, we still 
insist that there are some conditions far more favourable for the trans- 
mission of spiritual revelations than others; such for example, were the 
circumstances under which spirits influenced the visions of Messrs. 
Puys^gur and Barberini's clairvoyants, and subsequently gave direct com- 
munications through the "lucides" of Messrs. Dupotet, Billot, and Cahagnet. 
In all these cases, the magnetizers themselves were wholly unprepared for 
the nature of the intelligence rendered, in fact they were at first disposed 
to reject it, because it conflicted so strongly with their own preconceived 
opinions. The same independent character pervaded the spirit communi- 
cations first received in America, they being in general, not only new and 
strange, but totally opposed to the views of many of those who received 
them, and it is a fact worthy of the gravest consideration, that in all these 
EARLY AND UNBIASSED REVELATIONS, no word of the doctrine of re-incar- 
nation was ever given, except to individuals who had already cherished the 
belief. 

If we add, that in the most independent form of spiritual revelation, 
namely through physical mediumship, few if any instances are known 
wherein spirits have taught the doctrine of re-incarnation, we deem we 
have proved that the theory in question has not originated from authentic 
and reliable spiritual sources, but is in reality one of those Oriental ideas 
which other philosophers besides M. Roustan cherish. The author is 
even now well acquainted with a gentleman who appeals to every person 
inhuman enough to ill-treat dumb animals, imploring them to desist, on 
the plea, that they may, in all probability be abusing one of their own 
ancestors. Thousands of such erratic opinions have been in vogue and 
that without any reason for attributing them to spiritual sources. 

As a result of M. Aksakof's researches into the origin of the modern 
French re -incarnation doctrine, those readers who have had any experience 
in psychological experiments, will neither be surprised to find Madame 
Japhet reflecting the powerful idiosyncrasies of M. Roustan, or M. Kardec 
impressing his equally strong opinions upon the susceptible individuals 
with whom he came in contact. 

It must be remembered also, to account for the great prevalence of this 
remarkable man's doctrines on the Continent — that he was the only 
notable writer who distributed works in the French language on this subject, 
and maintained its propagandism with untiring zeal. 

In respect to the question of testimony, it must be remembered that M. 
Kardec derived his communications chiefly from those writing and trance 
mediums who might have proved the most susceptible to his influence, 
and is said to have persistently banished from his circles, not only Mr. 
Home, M. Bredif, and other physical mediums, but all those who did not 
endorse his favourite dogma through their communications. Having now 
presented the historical view of one side of the question, it becomes 
necessary to call attention to some of the representative writings of the 
opposite faction, distinguished from the followers of M. Kardec by the 
soubriquet of " SpirituaHsts." 

To do justice to this portion of our subject, we must now introduce M. 
Pierart, the editor of the opposition paper published in Paris, of which 
mention has already been made, under the title of La Revue Spiritualiste. 

Although it seems something of an anomaly to commence our record 
of a noble life by treating of its close, we find we cannot present to our 
readers a more compendious view of M. Pierart's good service in the cause 
4 



50 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

of Spiritualism, than by republishing his obituary notice, written by M. F. 
Clavairoz, Consul General of France at Trieste, and copied into most of 
the English and American Spiritual journals. This gentleman says : 

'•The valiant champion whose last work, 'The Primitive World,' I noticed a 
short time ago, has been struck down by death. It was, alas ! so to speak, the last 
flame bursting forth from the soul of this apostle. He corrected the proofs upon his 
bed of suffering, where my hand pressed his. M. Pierart succumbed to the malady 
with which he had been afflicted for several months, but of which he had hoped to be 
cured. The cause of Spiritualism has suffered a great loss ; but progress is not 
arrested because a combatant falls in the strife. Without being in any way dis- 
couraged in our aspirations, our regrets follow beyond the grave those whom we 
have known and loved, and whose courage has sustained us in our efforts in the 
struggle. He whom we have just lost is stamped with the seal of brave soldiers of the 
truth. Born in an humble condition, he valiantly made himself what he afterwards 
became. M. Pierart received his first education at the College of Avanes ; entered 
the grammar school of Douai, which he quitted with the diploma of teacher, and 
subsequently became professor at the College of Maubenge. While there he was 
chosen by Baron Dupotet to be his secretary, and they worked together several years. 
In 1858 he founded La Revue Spiritiialiste, at which time it required courage to propa- 
gate the new facts which had opened up an unknown field for speculation concerning 
the soul. His magazine reported the psychological phenomena which began in 
America, and it was continued by M. Pierart until he substituted for it the Concile de 
la Libre Pense'e, which was stopped in 1873, in consequence of clerical influence. 
Afterwards he resumed his spiritual labours by publishing the Benedictin de St. Maur, 
which he continued until the last. It is not only in the treatment of spiritual 
phenomena that M. Pierart has shown the power of his ardent soul, which was so 
captivated by all that is great and generous, for he published a number of historical 
works. No labour was too great for him when what seemed doubtful required investi- 
gation, and no consideration ever caused him to hesitate to divulge what he considered 
to be true. An indefatigable worker and careful investigator, history and archaeology 
attracted him as much as mesmerism and the occult sciences. He penetrated the 
arcana of Druidism, and studied the origin of the most ancient religions. His style — 
always precise, clear, and enlightened by clairvoyance^gave to his words a real 
authority. No one had more knowledge than he of the mysteries of the past, and death 
came upon him just as he was preparing to publish the result of his investigations. 
M. Pierart has for twenty years fought for the cause of Spiritualism, loved by all who 
knew him, and appreciated by all who read him. His death will leave a great gap, 
and the work he has left undone will be difflcult for another to accomplish. His faith 
supported him in his earthly struggle against poverty, and the secret persecutions by 
which he was beset. As for Spiritualists, who know that death is only a transformation, 
we believe that Pierart's soul will be with us and continue to interest itself in a cause 
which so occupied him during his earthly sojourn," 

In order to make our readers still better acquainted with this admirable 
champion of Spiritualism, and show some of the curious intrigues by which 
a great cause may be sacrificed to human ambition, and selfishness, we shall 
present a few extracts from an article published by M. Pierart in 1878, a 
translation of which was sent to the English Medium of London, by F. 
Tennyson, Esq., of St. Ewolds, Jersey. 

The article is headed — 

APPEAL OF M. PIERART. 

To the old readers of the Revue Spiritiialiste, and the Concile de Libre Pensee, and all those 
who love the truth, in connexion with Morality and Philosophy. 

" Friends and Brothers,-— It is now many years since our voice which won your 
sjmpathies, has made itself heard, but the day has come when we entertain the hope 
that its tones will once again rally you round the banner of truth which for fifteen 
years we upheld with unflinching resolution and zeal. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 51 

■'In the year 1858, when we started our journal, we also established a focus of 
re-union where you could all meet for the discussion of those consoling verities which 
were our delight, and the common subject of our most earnest meditations. This 
association continued until 1864. 

" It was then that we quitted Paris, and withdrew into the country keeping up how- 
ever at intervals our intercourse with those who remained faithful to us, and our 
cause. 

" Many among you have asked why we quitted the capital, to bury ourselves in the 
woods, and we have given reasons which we must now reproduce, for doing so. 

" Paris is a sink of corruption, and the man who does not lend himself to it, leads 
a life anything but agreeable. There is no room in this Babylon for upright, 
courageous, and liberal ministers of Truth. To obtain intellectual distinction, one 
must cringe ' to the powers that be,' a degradation we would not sink to. 

" Besides, we encountered not a few such men as are descrided in the gospel of St. 
Matthew — chap. 10, ver. 17 to 27. 

" We were desirous of resting the question of Spiritualism on the ground of facts, 
and critical analysis, trusting that the phenomena would eventually prove themselves. 
But in this we were unsupported, left alone, and misunderstood. Clever pychagogues 
launched out into wild guesses ; published catechisms, and foolish articles of belief, 
the results of ill-digested compilations, yet of a nature to impress the simple- 
minded. . . . What is more, the enemy wormed himself into the heart of our unpre- 
tending society in order to paralyze its action. 

" Mediums deceived us. Others introducing themselves through our journal, availed 
themselves of this opportunity to alienate our readers and set up opposition 
organs. 

" It was then, that profoundly discouraged, we proceeded to take up our perma- 
nent abode in the country ; to live the life of a hermit, alone in the society of our 
beloved books, in presence of the works of God, and the surroundings of Nature, 
which, at any rate, do not sadden or deceive the spirit open to their influences. 

"At length the Jesuits interfered to obstruct our work. In 1873, about the time 
the ' Gouvernement de Combat " was installed ; in direct violation of all law, our 
journal, which had never busied itself with politics, was suppressed. It seems that, 
in spite of its obscurity and slight importance, it troubled the slumbers of the 
ecclesiastics. It was regarded by the prelates and politicians of this same " Gou- 
vernement de Combat " as extremely dangerous. Our just appeals for its reinstate- 
ment were disregarded. Even to this day the suppressed numbers are in the office 
of the Minister of the Interior, and we have never been able to recover them. Our 
letters have received no answers, Thereby hangs a tale which may be better under- 
stood by the following letter, sent to the republican journals in the month of 
February, 1876 : — 

"'Saint Maur des Fosses, Jan. 6th, 1876. 

" ' Mr. Editor, — The abuse of the state of siege in regard to the political press, has 
been recently animadverted upon from the tribune and in the journals : but nothing 
has been said of the outrages which the periodical and non-political press has had 
to endure. I am myself a victim of this new-fangled torture; and my case is so 
perfectly unprecedented, that I can no longer keep silence. 

"'In 1858 I started a journal, which I called the Revue SpirittiaUste, devoted to 
the examination of philosophical questions and religious exegesis. This paper was 
succeeded in 1870 by the Concile de Libre Pensie, which continued to discuss the 
same subjects. It cannot be alleged that this publication was atheistical, or that it 
propagated evil principles, or stimulated bad passions. 

" ' Unceasingly it pleaded the being of a God, the immortality of the soul, and 
carefully avoided entering upon political and social questions. The Empire, though 
by no means favourably disposed towards the Press, had left it alone. Not so the 
men of the ' Gouvernement de Combat,' whose rise, three years since, France beheld 
with astonishment. It was then that my journal was suppressed. 

'"When I requested an explanation they did not deign to answer me. After 
waiting two years, I wrote to the Director of the Press to know whether, if I bound 
myself by entering into recognisances and agreed to publish my paper in a depart- 
ment not subject to the state of siege, I might be permitted to continue it. The 
answer was that under no conditions whatsoever, and in no part of France, would it 
be suffered to appear. Why ? Not the shadow of a reason was assigned on this any 
more than on the previous occasion. 

" ' I began to publish, about this time, a work entitled " Revelations and Com- 
mentaries on the History of the Early World," I found that after several pages had 



52 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

been printed, the proofs were seized at the post-ofl&ce, and I never heard any more of 
them, so that I was constrained to discontinue the work. 

" ' Now, what elements of sedition were there to be found in my work on " The 
Early World " ? They could not assert that it was the spark to fire the powder 
magazine of social and political passions. But it opposed the cosmogony and 
chronology of the Bible. Besides, it demonstrated the wide difference between 
actual Catholicism and primitive Christianity, and had perpetrated the unforgivable 
sin of exhibiting in new points of view the abuses of the confessional and the celibacy 
of the priesthood. 

" ' Such are the noted facts, as unquestionable as they are incredible.' " 

It would be unnecessary to republish M. Pierart's eloquent comments on 
what he considers these "incredible" facts in farther detail, there being 
few Spiritualists of any experience who could not parallel, and in some 
respects exceed them ; but we shall yet claim the reader's attention for a 
few more extracts from this gentleman's voluminous writings. The fol- 
lowing sketches of his power as a prophetic Seer being both original in 
style and characteristic of French Spiritualism : — 

Extracts from the " Concile de Libre Pensee " 
{Books 8th and gth). 

'' The year in which visions of great cotemporary events followed close upon one 
another was i860. 

" I anticipated the war which terminated in the bloody battle of Sadowa. The night 
before the battle, I had a vision of a Lancer whom I recognised by his uniform to be 
an Austrian Uhlan. He held a lance with a black pennant, and was singing a mourn- 
ful air which I remember to have heard in my youth sung by the veterans who 
witnessed the disaster of 1812 and 1813, It commenced thus — 

' They lie and sleep on the ground, 

And the drum shall wake them no more ! ' 

This vision made a painful impression upon me in my waking hours, but its signifi- 
cance was soon explained by the arrival of the telegram which announced the defeat 
and slaughter of Sadowa. 

'' Towards the end of 1867, I saw in vision vast multitudes of armed men approach- 
ing Paris from Germany, and the French Empire tottering beneath their heavy tread. 

" This prophecy was soon sadly realized in the fall of the Second Empire, already 
often predicted by a host of mediums. 

"Before the advance of the Black Prussians and the carnage of Champigny and 
Villiers-sur-Marne, I saw their approach in a cloud of black ravens which swooped 
down before the place where I was sitting. 

" Shortly after this, I had a distinct vision of myself returning from the north of 
France to Paris. On the way I encountered cavalry officers in foreign uniforms, one 
of whom thrust me aside with the point of his sabre, ordering me in an imperious 
voice to stand off. Very soon after, this scene was enacted in all its minutiae, for on 
quitting my native place to return to Paris, I encountered suddenly a party of 
Prussian soldiers who represented exactly the persons and scenes of my vision. 

"Just before the war, when all was apparently peaceful and calm, for more than 
fifteen days, every morning quite early, as I was dressing, I heard a dull sound as of 
a cannonade, which seemed to come from Paris, and its environs. At first I imagined 
there was some emeute in the great city, to the tune of artillery practice on the 
esplanade at Vincennes, but I soon learnt that there was nothing of the kind. Whence 
came this noise of cannon firing, which only I myself could hear, but at regular 
intervals, and unmistakably ? I could not account for it. It was not hallucination ; 
I was in perfect possession of my senses, and laying my ear to the ground I heard the 
sound intensified. Even now I ask myself how ever this audible phenomenon could 
be. Was I to understand it as a prophecy of the dreadful cannonade which was 
soon to thunder in Paris and its environs ? At this present date I should so explain 
it. About this time I had a letter from my friend M. Clavairoz. He asked me what 
my spirits said about the war. As for his spirit, in whom he had perfect confidence, 
he announced nothing but disaster, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 53 

'' A few days after this an English friend of mine paid me a visit. It was Mr. S. 
Chinnery, a very sensitive man, and good seer, whose presentiments rarely deceived 
him. He, no more than myself, had faith in the coming triumphs of France, He 
related tome a scene he had just witnessed in the gardens of the Tuileries, by the 
fountain nearest the Palace. A man — his dress in disorder, wild-looking, and hollow- 
eyed — had come there to weave a sort of incantation and denounce prophetically the 
potentate who resided close by. Laying coals on the edge of the basin and turning 
toward the Tuileries in an attitude of malediction, he thundered out these words : 
' Napoleon, thy days are numbered, thy kingdom is coming to an end. Witness these 
coals, which have been sent me by one in the last stage of phthisis, whose death is 
close at hand.' 

' ' After giving the particulars of this scene, which had made a strong impression on 
him, Mr. Chinnery recounted various prophecies and presentiments, of which he had 
made a collection, and which convinced him that France was about to pass through 
a very lamentable crisis. 

" I was in Belgium at the time of the disaster at Sedan. Before leaving, I had 
offered to the Flamant family, who dwelt at Joinville-le-Pont, on the other side of the 
Marne, the use of my apartment, in case the tide of war should reach Paris and its 
environs. I knew the enemy would not cross this stream in the teeth of the forts 
which protected it, but the left bank was in great danger of being ravaged. The 
members of this family, though they had no faith in my predictions, were very soon 
only too glad to accept my offer. 

" But I have now to relate the most wondrous of all the phenomena of that grievous 
period of terror. I was far away, but my good genius guarded my home. As I had 
quitted home in a hurry, everything had been left in confusion ; but when they took 
possession, everything was found in the most perfect order. Certainly no mortal 
hand could have acomplished this in an apartment under lock and key. Who then, 
could have put everything to rights? If it was a spirit, the new occupiers saw 
nothing of him ; but their dog no doubt saw him, for no sooner had the animal 
entered than he began to tremble all over, and to howl, so that they were obliged to 
open the door for him, and find him quarters in the garden. A luminous spirit was 
seen to go out from the house and to soar over it in the open air, with outstretched 
arms in sign of protection, at the moment when the enemy's cannon announced the 
investment of the Marne. 

" From that time I pursued in the journals every detail of the siege with the greatest 
anxiety. As the enemy's projectiles were aimed at the heights which crowned the 
approaches to the river, I dreaded lest they should force the passage, or a cannonade 
come down upon the lofty building that contained my apartment, which was close by 
the church, on the highest point of the locality, and therefore could not fail to be a 
target for them. One morning I had a vision — it seemed to me that a bombardment 
had commenced, and they were stowing away my books in safe hiding places. I 
afterwards ascertained that this vision was true. 

" I had had a thousand proofs of the action of the spiritual world on the natural. 
My good genius over and over again had saved me from great misfortunes. To turn 
aside the balls once fired off seemed to me impossible even for him, but I believed it 
might be in his power to act on the organs of a human being, so I besought him, in 
case the house should be in danger of bombardment, to exercise his influence on the 
visual organs of the artillery officers who pointed the cannon. I had no hope except 
in this. 

" I was not deceived. For six weeks an iron hail of shells hurled over the centre 
of the village of St. Maur. The houses all round mine were burnt, but mine remained 
intact. This so astonished the Wurtemburg artillery officer who directed the firing, 
that at the time of the armistice he came to see it, and declared, in presence of the 
assembled villagers who had returned, and the brave Flamant family, that 'the house 
must either be the devil's house or the dwelling of a sorcerer, as he had tried to set 
fire to it for six weeks, and had not succeeded.' At the same time it cannot be denied 
that the good dames of the neighbourhood attributed this fact to the agency of ' Our 
Lady of Miracles ' of St. Maur ; but, at all events, Our Lady might as well have 
preserved the other burnt houses while she was about it. 

" Whether people believe in these things or not, and howsoever they explain them 
it is not the less certain that they are facts ; and we have our own way of looking at 
them, undreamt of in their philosophy." " Z. T. Pjerart." 



54 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE, 

Spiritism and Spiritualism (continued). 

It must not be supposed that the schism which divided the two leaders 
of French SpirituaUsm was confined to the immediate sphere of action in 
which they moved. Scattered sympathisers with the writings of Allan 
Kardec may be found all over the Continent of Europe and in small 
numbers in America also. Few people who read works put forth with 
authoritative pretentions, have the faculty of thoroughly digesting what they 
read, hence, when M. Kardec's books were translated into the English 
language, and it became the publisher's interest to aid in their circulation, 
they found more readers than thinkers, and their plausible style attracted 
more admiration than sincere convicton. In France, no doubt M. 
Kardec's personal influence and strong psychological power, admirably 
fitted him for a propagandist, and when we remember how readily any 
doctrines eloquently advocated will command adherents, especially amongst 
restless and excitable natures, we need be at no loss to discover why M. 
Kardec's writings have become so popular and his opinions so generally 
accepted by his readers. Little or no Spiritual literature was disseminated 
in the French language when Allan Kardec's works were first pubUshed. 
He possessed that indomitable energy and psychological influence in which 
his much harassed rival Pierart was wanting. Thus in a measure, the 
field of Continental Spiritual propagandism was his own, nor did he fail 
to make use of his great opportuuities. 

The successes achieved by Kardec's journal La Revue Spirite, communi- 
cated a wave of influence also, which propagated journals of a similar 
character all over the country. Thus in 1864, there were no less than ten 
Spiritualistic periodicals published in France, under the following titles : 
La Revue Spirite, La Revue Spiritualisfe, and L'Avenir, Paris ; four 
Spiritist journals published in, Bordeaux, which, in 1865, became merged 
into L Union Spirite Bordelaise ; La Medium Evangeliqut, Toulouse; 
LEcho d outre Tonibe, Marseilles ; and La Verite, Lyons. 

The editors of these journals are said to have been all followers of 
Allan Kardec, with the exception of M. Pierart, editor of La Revue 
Spiritualiste. 

How far the Re-incarnationists were in sympathy with Spiritualism proper, 
may be gathered from the fact, that they never noticed an opera published 
in 1865 in M. Pierart's paper, said to be the production of spirits, 
through the mediumship of Dr. C. Maldigny, entitled "Swedenborg." 

Several persons of literary talent pronounced this opera a very meri- 
torious work, but as its publisher M. Pierart was a Spiritualist, amongst a 
host of Spiritist journalists, not one contributed to popularize it, by a 
single word of comment. 

This is but one out of many kindred facts which tend to prove the total 
lack of sympathy existing between the opposing parties. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 55 

It must be remarked that the doctrines of the Re-incarnationists, 
although defended with great ability by their propagandists, who in- 
cluded many of the most capable minds of France, were not suffered 
to pass without severe castigation on the part of their English neigh- 
bours ; and as we are pledged to represent the history of the movement, 
rather than our own personal predilections, it becomes necessary to note 
how the French spiritual schism was received on the other side of the 
Channel. 

In the London Spiritual Magazijie of 1865, the editor, in commenting 
on the ominous silence of the Spirite journals concerning Dr. Maldigny's 
opera of Swedenborg says : — 

''It is worthy of note that the journals of the Kardec school, so far as we have 
seen them, do not take the least notice of this opera. The Avmir of Paris 
which appears weekly, but greatly wants facts, has not a word to say about 
it. . . . It is greatly to be regretted that the main object of the Kardecian 
journals, seems to be, not the demonstration of the constantly recurring facts of 
Spiritualism, but the deification of Kardec's absurd doctrine of Re-incarnation. 

"To this doctrine — which has nothing to do with Spiritualism, even if it had a leg 
of reason or fact to stand on — all the strength, and almost all the space of these 
journals is devoted. 

"These are the things which give the enemies of Spiritualism a real handle 
against it, and bring it into contempt with sober minds. Re-incarnation is a doctrine 
which cuts up by the roots all individual identity in the future existence. It deso- 
lates utterly that dearest yearning of the human heart for reunion with its loved 
ones in a permanent world. If some are to go back into fresh physical bodies, 
and bear new names, and new natures, if they are to become respectively Tom 
Styles, Ned Snooks, and a score of other people, who shall ever hope to meet 
again with his friends, wife, children, brothers and sisters ? When he enters the 
spirit-world and enquires for them, he will have to learn that they are already 
gone back to earth, and are somebody else, the sons and daughters of other people, 
and will have to become over and over the kindred of a dozen other families in suc- 
cession ! Surely no such most cheerless crotchet could bewitch the intellects of any 
people, except under the most especial bedevilment of the most sarcastic and. 
mischievous of devils." 

In the January number for 1866, a still stronger article on this subject 
appears from the pen of Wm. Howitt, who writes the following fearless 
words of protest against the doctrine of Re-incarnation : — 

'' In the Avenir of November 2nd, M. Pezzani thinks he has silenced M. 
Pierart, by asserting that without Re-incarnation all is chaos and injustice in 
God's creation — ' In this world there are rich and poor, oppressed and oppressors, 
and without Re-incarnation God's justice could not be vindicated.' That is to say, 
in M. Pezzani's conception, God has not room in the infinite future to punish 
and redress every wrong, without sending back souls again and again into the 
flesh. M. Pezzani's idea, and that of his brother Re-incarnationists is, that the 
best way to get from Paris to London is to travel any number of times from 
Paris to Calais and back again. We English that the only way is to go on to 
London at once. . . . As to M. Pezzani's notions of God's injustice without 
Re-incarnation, if souls were re-incamated a score of times, injustice between man 
and man, riches and poverty, oppression and wrong, all the enigmas of social 
inequality would remain just then as now. 

" In noticing these movements in the Spiritist camp in France, we should be doing 
a great injustice if we did not refer to the zealous, eloquent, and unremitting exertions 
of M. Pierart in the Revjce Spiritualistc, to expose and resist the errors of the Spirites to 
which we have alluded. The doctrine of Re-incarnation M. Pierart has persistently 
resisted and denounced as at once false, unfounded on any evidence, and most per- 
nicious to the character of Spiritualism." 

Again he adds : — 



5 6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. ■ 

" What are the fruits which this serpent doctrine of Re-incarnation have already 
begun to produce in the South of France ? There the medium Hillaire, having run 
away with his neighbour's wife, it is stated that the unhappy husband appealed to 
their leader Kardec to use his influence to bring back the fugitive wife with the 
money which she and her paramour had carried off. 

" But the answer is stated to have been from Kardec, that he could do no such 
thing, as the husband was no doubt punished for a similar crime in some former state 
of existence." 

M. Pierart in commenting on this notorious case says in the Revue 
Spiritualiste, 8 th vol. : — 

" In the south of France a people has only awakened from the death of materialistic 
belief, to the death of all virtue, sense, morality, and reason. 

" There a tribunal has lately heard enunciated the doctrine, that it is necessary to 
tolerate theft and adultery, because these crimes can only happen as the punishment 
of like sins in a former existence." 

M. Pierart concludes a scathing article on this case in the following 

words : — 

" Away then, with these doctrines destructive of progress, negative of the spirit 
which ought to reign in humanity ! Away ! and it is high time ; for seduction and 
blind error are arising and spreading themselves on all sides like a leprosy, which it 
will soon be too late to attempt to cure. They go on originating fanatical impulses, 
made obstinate by the force of ignorance and the absence of a critical spirit. And no 
one calls attention to the danger ! and we ourselves stand nearly alone and unable to 
vanquish the hydra. But we shall at least have done our part. Our warnings have 
been heard from time to time, and if they remain without response, we shall at least 
enjoy the consciousness of having performed a great duty." 

Again William Howitt writes : — 

" We may regret the necessity, — one which amounts to a duty, — of devoting so 
much space to a doctrine which assails, and would uproot if permitted to flourish, the 
most vital principles of Spiritualism, amongst which are — 

" I. The immortality of the soul— utterly annihilated if an individual known as 
such on earth, is not himself at all but somebody else in past life and will be somebody 
else in the future. 

" 2. It negatives eternal progress, if the soul is to return to this weary earth for 
endless births as somebody else, instead of marching on through the decades of 
eternity in unchanged, and ever strengthening individuality. 

" 3. It crushes out for ever the sweet ties of family affection — if, for example ; — 
the blessed mother whom we have known and adored, is not our mother, but we are 
perchance her great grandfather, and she may be presently born again as the child of 
our worst enemy ! 

"4. It wholly discredits the facts of spirit communion upon which alone, the 
foundations of Spiritualism rest; because Spiritualism came to us a stranger, and 
before we had begun to pervert its revealments or interpolate them with our own wild 
theories, it declared that the soul moved on for ever, but never retrogressed back into 
its rudimental shell of mortal mould. It showed us the worst of spirits, progressing 
through the spheres of Spiritual existence, growing brighter and fairer beneath our 
very eyes, but never returning to be re-born in strange households, to the distraction 
of all kindred ties, and the annihilation of that divine sentiment of love for one 
another, which is the redeeming element in the lowest depths of humanity." 

" Can you give me any indisputable proof that the doctrine of the 
soul's Re-incarnation in matter is true ? " asked the author of a Spirit, 
communicating under test conditions so well defined, as to render doubt 
touching that spirit's personality impossible. '•' Can you give me any indis- 
putable proof," replied the spirit, " that an acorn having once grown to be 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 57 

an oak, ever becomes an acorn again, or the eagle having once given birth 
to its young, ever becomes again a germ egg ? " 

Who cannot follow out these living pictures of Nature's harmonious and 
'Unbroken laws, from plant and animal life to man, nor dwarf the intellect 
down to the measure of M. Roustan's dreams, filtered through the lips of 
his somnambulic subject, even though they be stamped with the mighty 
genius of M. Allan Kardec ? 

And now that same Allan Kardec is a spirit ! He passed from the scene 
of his earthly pilgrimage on the 31st of March, 1869. 

Whatever might have been the impulse that led him to promulgate a 
doctrine fraught with so much that many SpirituaUsts deem false and 
injurious, it is impossible that he could have exerted over his own imme- 
diate sympathizers so unbounded an influence as he wielded, without 
being a man of powerful intellect, and indomitable energy. It is also 
impossible that he could so long have remained the centre of a large 
• circle, without becoming known for what he truly was, and as all his most 
intimate associates pronounce upon him the verdict of superior excellence, 
who shall venture to visit a stupendous intellectual misconception, upon 
the heart and intention of the man ? 

That he had the elements of greatness, let us cordially acknowledge. 
Meantime, whatever he may now be in sentiment and knowledge, we 
are assured he is in the land of light, where he will no more "see as in a 
glass darkly, but face to face," with divine truth. 

Were it not for the vice of the age, which rejoices to represent greatness 
through the shams of mediocrity, we might hope to learn from the lips 
.of the enfranchised spirit himself, how it fares with him, and how far his 
spiritual eyes have been opened, to the realities of his new sphere of 
existence. Still again, we are consoled by the assurance, that all progress 
for all living souls, is but a question of time, and that sooner or later, he 
will join the mighty armies of progression, whose watchword through 
eternity is. Excelsior ! 

It should be stated in this brief notice of a memorable man, that the 
followers of Allan Kardec are accustomed to assemble annually at his tomb 
in Pere La Chaise and celebrate with all the love and interest which his 
memory excites, their continued affiliation, in spirit at least, with their great 
leader. Until within the last twelvemonth, these touching anniversary 
services have been participated in by the venerable Madame Kardec. 
Quite recently however, the noble widow has gone to join — as we faith- 
fully believe — the husband to whom she seemed to be bound by ties of 
tenderness and personal affection which strangely contradict her cherished 
philosophy of Re-incarnation. 

Madame Kardec leaves a munificent bequest behind, in aid of the fund 
■designed to publish and disseminate her husband's writings, and it seems 
to have been in view of her noble character and earnest endeavour to act 
out her highest sense of right, that her obsequies were attended by crowds 
of persons distinguished alike for their literary and social eminence. The 
reader cannot fail to be interested in the following excerpts which give brief 
accounts of one of the anniversary gatherings held at the tomb of the 
celebrated French Spiritist. 

The Daily News of London says : — 

" The other day a solemn conclave met in Paris to do honour to a name which, 
;although a borrowed one, has in the space of less than twenty years made the 



58 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

circuit of the globe, and founded a school of religious philosophy in which its- 
adepts seem to find the meeting point of Mysticism and Methodism. Allan Kardec, 
whose imposing tomb at Pere La Chaise cannot fail to have attracted the atten- 
tion of the most careless visitor to that city of the dead, was the son of a French 
lawyer, and was born at Lyons in the early years of the century. His real name 
was Hippolyte Leon Denizard Rivail, and with it for more than fifty years he was 
content to live a life of obscurity. Some few years however, after the establish- 
ment of the Second Empire, Spiritualistic manifestations were imported into France 
from across the Atlantic. It fascinated Rivail's mind, long given up to the study of 
the mediaeval Mystics. In 1858 he had gathered around him so many fellow-believers 
that a ' Societe des Etudes Spirites ' was constituted, and a few months later their 
organ, the Revue Spirite, appeared. Both the Association and the organ still survive, 
and claim to be making important progress, not only in France, but in every 
Continental country." 

Writing of the same occasion, one of the American papers remarks : — • 

" There was a large gathering of Continental Spiritualists around the tomb of Allan 
Kardec in the cemetery of Pere La Chaise, Paris, on the occasion of the recent anniver- 
sary of his death. Speeches in honour of him and his work were delivered by 
prominent disciples. One of the floral crowns to decorate his tomb was brought from 
America. Madame Kardec was present, and received the sympathetic salutations of 
the assemblage. 

'' In the evening many were present at a banquet and concert. About three 
hundred brothers and sisters in belief met at the rooms of the Society for continuing 
Allan Kardec's work, in the Rue des Petits-Champs. The rooms are now too small 
for the growing Society. The evening was devoted to oratorical, poetical, and musical 
tributes to the memory of the venerated founder." 

Those who are familiar with the writings of R. D. Owen, Shorter,. 
Howitt, and other celebrated European Spiritualists, will have read with 
absorbing interest, accounts of the marvellous phenomena which frequently 
occurred in the presence of the late Baron de Guldenstubbe, and his gifted 
sister. The speciality of the Baron's mediumship was, the production of 
writings executed by the hands of spirits themselves. These writings the 
Baron, Mdlle. Guldenstubbe, and their friends, obtained in the following 
way. According to certain theories of his own, the Baron de Guldenstubbe 
believed, that tombs, altars, statues, and other objects consecrated to the 
memory of the illustrious deceased, were imbued with special magnetic 
properties, which aided in attracting the spirits to whose memory they were 
dedicated. With this impression he was in the habit of placing blank 
papers in concealed niches of remarkable monuments, and under the 
most crucial test conditions, obtained spirit writings, drawings, and 
hieroglyphics of the rarest interest. A volume could be filled with 
descriptions of these wonderful productions, the genuine character of 
which it is impossible to question. As some facsimiles and elaborate 
accounts have been published by several well-known authors, of these 
writings, we shall ask our readers to satisfy themselves on the pre- 
sent occasion, with two short narratives, both of which are selected, 
as much for their unquestionable authenticity, as for their rarity. The 
first is written by Dr. G. L. Ditson for the Banner of Light of 1881, and 
reads thus : — 

" Following the above is an account, from the pen of Mons. Leymarie, of a visit 
made, by order of the spirits, by Baron Guldenstubbe to Versailles. He was required 
to go with certain ladies named, whom he was to invite, and evidently for a special 
purpose. While in the gallery at V. the Bishop of Orleans, M. Dupanloup, passed on 
his way to celebrate mass in the chapel. Knowing the ladies referred to above, he 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 59 

stopped and addressed them, and also the Baron, to whom he expressed his regrets 
that he was a follower of Luther, who would suffer in purgatory for the division he 
had caused in the true Church. The Baron replied that he did not think that 
Luther was in purgatory or in hell, and as a proof of it, if the Bishop would place a 
blank piece of paper on Luther's portrait, there would come some evidence of his 
(the Baron's) belief. The Bishop tore a piece of paper from his register, and placed 
it as suggested. After a few moments he took it down and found written upon it : 

'/k vita pestis eram Papce, ■ 
In morte mors ero. Luther." 

(Living, I was a flail to the Pope ; dead, I will be his death.) They were all greatly 
astonished. The Bishop extended his hand to the Baron and his sisters (both 
mediums), asking permission to visit them in Paris. The permission was obtained, 
and he frequently availed himself of it subsequently. 

'' Among the signatures of royalty which the Baron obtained by direct writing in 
the crypt of St. Denis was that of Marie Antoinette, which resembled hers while she 
was in the flesh, as the Director of the Gobelin tapestry manufactory declared — for he 
had some of her letters. Baron Guldenstubbe, as is well-known, held a high position 
among men of science, and his sister is perhaps hardly less distinguished. The 
Baron healed the sick, also, by animal magnetism. M. Leymarie refers to the 
Baroness Guldenstubbe as a lady devoted to the cause of Spiritualism as well as to 
the sciences in general." 

The second and last notice which we can give of Baron de Guldenstubbe 
was first printed in the Daily News, of London, in 1859, and has been 
since copied into some of the Spiritual papers. It reads as follows : — 

" Among the most famous ' mediums ' nowhere [Paris] is a German, the Baron 
Guldenstubbe, and his sister. The Baron is a nobleman of well-known status and good 
fortune ; his wife is a firm believer, but is not a 'medium,' while his sister — said to 
be very clever and amiable, but the most weird, unearthly, elfin-looking little creature 
imaginable— shares her brother's gifts, and even surpasses him in this line. The 
Baron and his sister, with a number of friends, have been in the habit for two years 
past, of going to the churches here, placing bits of paper and pencil on the tombs, 
and finding messages written on the papers by the spirits of those whose mortal 
remains lie beneath the marble. Those who have been to the scene of operations say 
that the Baron lays a bit of paper and pencil on each tomb from whose occupant they 
desire to hear, and retires a few paces from them ; that in the course of ten minutes 
the friends approach the tombs and take up their papers, when messages are found 
written on the latter. The papers are examined carefully before they are laid on the 
tomb, and are known to be innocent of all trace of writing ; the visitors remain 
within a few paces of them, so that no one could approach without being seen ; and 
yet when the papers are taken up, they are found to contain writing, always distinctly 

visible. A week or so ago Madame S caught a violent cold ; the white of her eye 

changed, as it were, to a piece of red cornelian. It was frightful to look at, and 
she fully expected that she would find herself " in for a long and painful attack." 

Before the attack had come on Madame S had been desired (by the " spirit " of 

some old Norman knight, with a very romantic name, who came to her one evening 
at the Baron's house) to go on the following Friday to Sevres, to place a paper and 
pencil in the middle of the public road, at thirty paces from the entrance to the 
famous china manufactory, and to wait there for a message from him. Though her 

eye was so inflamed as to compel her to relinquish all invitations, Madame S did 

not hesitate, protected by a thick veil, to go to Sevres at the time appointed. She 
and a friend, having counted off the thirty paces, held a bit of blank paper over the 
spot indicated for a few minutes, " to magnetise it," and then laid it on the ground 
with a pencil, covering them with some stones, so as to prevent the wind (which was 

high and cold) from blowing the paper away. Madame S says that she hardly 

ventured to hope the writing would take place, as Baron Guldenstubbe, who had been 
told to accompany her, took no part in the thing, but walked about with his sister in 
various directions, looking at the building and fine prospect. Presently the two came 

up to Madame S and oifered to place the paper for her. 

" 'Thank you,' she said, 'I have placed it myself; it is under those stones yonder.' 
'■ ' But you will probably have no message,' returned the Baron ; ' you are not yet 
a medium, and it would have been better to allow me to help you.' 



6o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" ' Perhaps so,' replied Madame S , ' but I felt an impulse prompting me to 

try my own power. I have magnetised the paper before putting it under the stones, 
and by-and-bye we shall see what is the result.' At that moment Mdlle. Guldenstubbe 
suddenly went off into a sort of cataleptic vision, throwing up her arms, which grew 
rigid, and declaring, with a face of horror that she saw a man in armour where the 
stones were; a javelin had struck him under the arm, between the joints of his mail, 
and the blood was flowing in torrents. 

" ' He will not die of his wound,' she cried, ' but he suffers dreadfully ; he Uegs 

Madame S • to take the paper from under the stones ; he has written upon it, and 

says she must place the paper, as though it were a plaster, on her eye to-night when 
she goes to bed, and it will cure her.' 

" On going to the spot, and lifting off the stones that covered the paper, the latter 
was found to be marked with a single letter — an L or an S— very indistinct, but so 
firmly traced, that the paper was raised by the pressure of the pencil, and under it 
was a queer mark, much better traced, which appeared to be not a letter, but a 
cabalistic sign. Intensely delighted with the success of the experiment, the party 

returned to Paris ; and on retiring for the night, Madame S laid the paper on 

her inflamed eye, tying it carefully in place with a handkerchief. Next morning, to 

her great satisfaction, the eye was cured ! Now, it is certain that Madame S , 

however much she may unconsciously deceive herself, is quite incapable of attempt- 
ing to deceive others ; and as to the fact of the sudden and inexplicable cure of her 
eye, numbers of her friends, are witnesses to its reality ; but what is one to think of 
such an occurrence ? In this case good seems to have been done." 

We shall close this chapter by a brief account of a wonderful healer who 
is even now effecting cures by spirit power, as remarkable as any one 
recorded during the present century. 

Our subject is an excellent mechanic ; — a watchmaker by trade, by the 
name of Hyppolite; — and the following sketch of his noble work is transla- 
ted for the columns of Light (l^ondon) of this current year, 1883, from 
an account written by M. Ch. Fauvety, President of the " Scientific Psycho- 
logical Society " of Paris. 

M. Fauvety says in the Society's Bulletin, for the new year : 

" In one of the poorer quarters of Paris, cures have been, and are still being, per- 
formed, by imposition of hands, &c. The subjects, many of them have been treated 
unsuccessfully at hospitals. The healer asks for no payment. What good he does is, 
he says, for the love of God and humanity. Orthodox practitioners could gain nothing 
by prosecuting a heterodox therapeutist like this, so he goes on in his work unmolested. 

"The healer's name is Hippolyte. He is between forty and fifty, and is in the 
business of a watchmaker with his father, a hale and upright man of eighty. 

" In the room at the back of the shop early every morning Hippolyte's daughter is 
ready to receive sick visitors, giving to each a number in the order of which each will 
be attended to. At nine o'clock Hippolyte begins and keeps at his work of healing 
until past noon, and then he goes to the watchmaking and mending by which the 
household is supported. 

" With respect to his method of treatment, Hippolyte says that as soon as rapport 
is established between the patient and himself — which seems to be pre-requisite — he 
has impressions as to what is out of order and what he has to do ; sometimes his 
hands are used to make passes ; sometimes somnambulic sleep comes on, in which 
communications are made through the patient about his case, to help in the cure. In 
chronic cases the method generally pursued is evidently calculated to rouse into 
activity the will and organic forces of the patient, in aid of which Hippolyte uses 
manipulations. In these he declares he is moved by his ' spirit guides.' 

' ' Various persons have watched Hippolyte's treatment, and all concur in recog- 
nising positive cures or palpable amelioration. 

"The maladies we saw cured included paralyses, neuralgia, gouty and rheumatic 
affections, diseases of joints, — some condemned to amputation at hospitals, — spinal 
disorders, &c. As many as thirty patients came some days, of both sexes and all ages. 
The following few cases will illustrate some of Hippolyte's modes of proceeding ; 
they are from a note containing more written for me by him : — 

'■ ' A youth suffering from epilepsy was brought to me after much orthodox treat- 
ment. As I spoke to him he went into a fit of fearful severity, I felt myself moved 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 6i 

to lay my hands upon him, my right to his heart, my left to his head, and to direct my 
gaze to his throat. He presently came out of the fit, passing into the somnambulic 
sleep. Then, in answer to questions, he said, that the exciting cause of his fits was 
fright occasioned by some mischievous companions ; he then predicted the day and 
hour of the next fit, and said he would be well and would not need treatment until 
then. When he returned to ordinary consciousness he had no memory of what had 
been said through him. I got his promise to come on the day named. He came in 
accordance with the promise and went into a similar fit, but less strong, exactly at the 
predicted hour. My hands were applied as before ; the fit lasted but a few minutes, 
he passing again into the somnambulic sleep ; in it came another prediction that the 
next fit would not be until after twenty-one weeks, and date and hour were named ; 
that the fit following that would be at a still longer interval and would be the last. 
The fulfilment of these predictions is looked forward to with complete confidence. 

'■ ' A. Delavigne came, after long and fruitless treatment by the faculty, with chronic 
articular rheumatism and cold swelling of wrist, and hand, and fingers, quite 
disabling her from her work of lace-making. While treating her I felt the impulse to 
put a wooden roller under her hand, and upon this roller, without her own volition, 
and without any aid from me, her hand was exercised for three hours with intervals 
of rest. This was repeated at every treatment. Sometimes the bare hand would be 
made to beat the table forcibly with blow after blow, without any effort of her own, 
as if to rouse the internal parts of the limb into action. She completely recovered 
and returned to work. 

" 'A neighbouring tradesman asked my attention to the case of a lady-customer of 
his. Three weeks previously she came to his shop to make purchases, and while doing 
so her little boy, who accompanied her, fell down some cellar-steps, Thinking he 
must be killed — but he was not hurt — -she fainted and fell. She was carried home, 
for it was found that all power had left her lower limbs. She had been under medical 
treatment ever since, but with no good result ; she was getting very weak, had lost 
desire for food, and was almost sleepless. She came in an invalid's chair and was 
carried in. 

" ' After the first treatment of twenty minutes she was able to walk to her little 
carriage. The next day, while under treatment, she passed into somnambulic sleep. 
In it she spoke of her internal condition and predicted coming pains, from reaction, 
and their duration. At every subsequent treatment she passed into the sleep, assisted 
with directions, and predicted her full restoration. At the end of a few weeks, her 
visits having become less and less frequent, she felt quite well. Her last visit was to 
tell me, with radiant and grateful countenance, that she had been invited to a soirie 
dansante, and had found that her limbs had entirely regained their full strength and 
activity. 

'' M. Fauvety says that although people not poor find their way to Hippolyte, the 
greater number are very poor, as may be judged from the circumstance that on the 
table were always tickets for bread placed at Hippolyte's disposal by the Conseil de 
Bienfaisance of his district ; there was also a wooden bowl to receive the small contri- 
butions of the less poor for him to distribute among those who needed better nourish- 
ment than their own means afforded, or to pay omnibus fares for those unable to 
walk." 

A large number of additional testimonials both printed and in MSS., have 
been sent to the author concerning the beneficent gifts of this noble healer, 
and the excellent uses to which he devotes his powers. Our space forbids 
any more extended notice than a hearty " God speed," words which will 
find an echo in the hearts of hundreds, whom this man's Christ-Hke work 
has already blessed and benefited. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE (CONTINUED). 

OF 

PHENOMENAL AND EXPERIMENTAL SPIRITUALISM. 

The Cur^ D'Ars, Jacob the Zouave, and Our Lady of Lourdes. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the experimental method of receiving 
communications through physical mediumship was not in favour with M. 
Allan Kardec and his followers, (the ruling party in the modern movement 
in France), there is an abundant amount of phenomena of all kinds 
recorded in M. Pierart's excellent journal La Revue Sj>tritualisfe, also in 
many other European journals devoted to the subject. From this treasury 
we are about to select such facts of a representative character as will give 
a general view of French Spiritualism in the nineteenth century. 

Pursuant to the plan of this work, we shall first record a case of 
spontaneous spirit power or one which gives unmistakable proof of spiritual 
influence without the aid of invocatory processes, and the illustration we 
are about to introduce, is the celebrated " Cure D'Ars," the founder of the 
D'Ars " Providence," and many other noble works of charity. 

Jean Baptiste Vianney, was born in the vicinity of Lyons in 1786, in 
an humble sphere of life. 

His natural capacity was by no means remarkable, and at school he was 
only remembered as a somewhat dull scholar. 

Circumstances having opened up the way for his becoming a priest, 
although he had only Latin enough to say mass, and no learning beyond 
the routine of his profession, yet his amiable nature and unaffected piety 
won him friends wherever he went. After some changes of fortune and the 
rejection of two good offers of rich positions, which in his extreme humility 
he did not deem himself fit for, he accepted the pastoral charge of the little 
agricultural village of D'Ars, now in the arrondisement of Trevoux. 

This place, the scene of his life-long labours was almost as stagnant and 
full of ignorance as good Pastor OberHn's famous valley of Ban de la 
Roche. 

When M. Vianney became its Cure, his deep devotion, fervent preaching, 
and the genuine interest he displayed in the happiness and welfare of his 
flock, soon won their confidence, and placed him in the very centre of 
their hearts and affections. 

Although he was wholly dependent for subsistence upon the small 
pittance he received for his pastoral services, he managed to live upon 
such meagre fare that he was enabled to disburse nearly all his salary in 
charity. 

Very soon his reputation for beneficence drew around him a much 
larger circle of poor dependents than he could provide for, and then it 
was that he commenced his extraordinary life of faith, supplicating in 
fervent prayer for whatever means were necessary to carry out his divine 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. (^z 

mission of blessing to his unfortunate fellow creatures. In this way the 
sphere of his benevolence and the wonderful results of the means he 
employed to maintain it, reached proportions that could scarcely be 
credited. 

Amongst other great undertakings he built three chapels, and estab- 
Ushed a " Providence " or home for destitute children, to which he added 
another for friendless women. When the number of his poor pensioners 
exceeded his means of accommodation, he devoted one room after 
another of his own humble dwelling to their use, reserving only the garret 
for himself. All these undertakings involved not only incessant labour 
but vast expense. The Cure had not a franc of his own to devote to 
these purposes, for he gave away in casual and daily charities nearly all his 
means, sometimes even depriving himself of his small allowance of bread 
and milk to feed the hungry. 

He gave away the bed on which he lay and cheerfully substituted for it a 
couch of straw, which he declared was quite good enough for him. He 
often robbed himself of the decent clothes provided for him by admiring 
friends and administered to the wants of others in fluttering rags. 

Always cheerful, contented, indomitably active ; planning his own build- 
ings and helping to raise them himself; preaching incessantly and never 
weary of speaking words of good cheer and consolation, this wonderful 
being became the life and soul as well as the founder of the most gigantic 
enterprises. 

When the orphans of poor dependents wanted bread he prayed for it, 
and it was sure to come. When the treasury was empty and food and 
fuel must be purchased he prayed and the money came pouring in from all 
quarters. When the work on his buildings came to a standstill and the 
workmen would not tease the good father for help, he knew exactly what 
they wanted—and prayed accordingly — food, money, building materials, 
and clothes, were sent just as certainly as they were needed, but not until 
the good pastor had put up his fervent petition for the same. 

Kind helpful women tendered their services as teachers and seamstresses, 
whereupon he opened schools for the children and established clothing 
depots for the destitute. 

The idea of his *' Providence " too became contagious, and numbers of 
other institutions of a similar kind began to spring up in different provinces 
of France. 

M. I'Abbe Monnin, whose biography of this wonderful man occupies 
two bulky volumes avers, that his " Providence " was established fifteen 
years before that of Miiller in Bristol, England, both being supported. in 
the same miraculous way by faith and prayer. 

M. Monnin relates endless miracles of the good Cure, the recital of 
which could add but little to the reader's interest in the astonishing facts 
already narrated. Here were three chapels erected, four or five houses 
built and endowed, countless numbers relieved, and upwards of one 
hundred poor women and children regularly maintained, and all by a man 
without a penny in the world, and a stipend barely sufficient to provide for 
the daily wants of one person. 

But now a still more wonderful thing was to happen in the enchanted 
region of D'Ars. 

Persons afflicted with disease began to experience sudden cures, whilst 
praying before the altar, or making confessions to the Cure. 

The fame of this new miracle soon spread abroad, until the Abbe Monnin 



64 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

declares, that upwards of 20,000 persons annually came from Germany, 
Italy, Belgium, all parts of France, and even from England, and that in less 
than six years, this number increased to an average of 80,000. 

Diseases of every kind that had been pronounced incurable were dissi- 
pated at once. 

The indefatigable Cure gave himself up to the work heart and soul. 

His church stood open day and night, and the immense crowds that 
surrounded it, were obliged to wait for hours and sometimes days to reach 
the good healer. 

No one was allowed to take precedence of the rest, except in cases of 
extreme poverty or extreme suffering. Princes, nobles, and great ladies, 
often drove up as near as they could to the church in grand carriages, and 
manifested the utmost astonishment when informed, that notwithstanding 
their rank, they could not be admitted except in turn. 

The Cure only permitted himself to take four hours sleep, namely from 
eleven to three, and when he came to the confessional again, the church 
and all the approaches to it were crowded with those who had waited all 
night to secure their places. 

Omnibuses were established to convey patients from Lyons to D'Ars, and 
the Saone was covered with boats full of anxious pilgrims. 

Amongst thousands of reported cases of wonderful cures, there was one 
which Mr. Wm. Howitt, another of the Cure D'Ars' biographers, relates in 
the following touching terms. He says : 

" A poor woman came from a great distance, carrying on her back a boy of eight 
years old who had no use in his legs whatever. For four-and-twenty hours the poor 
mother perseveringly endeavoured to get near the Curd At length he put his hands 
on the child and blessed him, saying some words of comfort to the mother. On 
entering their lodgings for the night the boy said, ' Mother, buy my sabots, for M. the 
Cur^ has promised that I shall walk to-morrow.' The words of the Cure had not 
been quite so positive, but the child had such faith in him that he felt confident of 
his cure. The mother went and bought the sabots, and sure enough, on the morrow 
the child was cured and ran through the church crying joyfully, " I am cured ! I am 
cured !' The mother was overwhelmed with tears and emotion." 

We cannot conclude this brief notice which does but poor justice to the 
subject as detailed by the Abb^ Monnin, without making the following 
additional extracts from Mr. Howitt's interesting account of the Cure. He 
says : 

" Numerous letters are found in these volumes [Abbe Monnins' biography] from 
people, detailing the circumstances of their ailments and their cures, and many others 
from well-known persons soliciting the prayers of the Cure for themselves and friends. 
All this time the Cur^ was not only expending superhuman exertions in church services, 
from year to year, giving himself but a short pause for a very meagre breakfast and 
dinner, but he was receiving large sums from all sides and bestowing them as 
promptly in relieving distress, assisting poor pilgrims, and sending relief to distant 
places. When somebody asked him the secret of obtaining such great supplies of 
money, he replied that it was by simply giving it away again as fast as he could, to 
those who needed it. Nobody at the same time could be more unassuming, unosten- 
tatious, or unselfish. He expended everything he had, money, prayers, strength, as 
long as he had any : and this life he continued till within four days of his death, in 
August, 1859, at the age of 73. 

One of the most remarkable features of the Cure d'Ars was the condition of spiri- 
tual clairvoyance to which he had attained. By his extreme abstemiousness, his intense 
exertions, and his ardent piety, he seemed to have purged away almost all fleshly 
impediments betwixt the invisible world and himself. Notwithstanding the constant 
throng of people that surrounded him so that he had difficulty to pass amongst them in 
his church, or to and from his house ; though they were coming and going continually, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 65 

he seemed to know them, their names, their connections, and circumstances as soon 
as he cast his eyes on them. He would pick out particular individuals in the crowd, 
tell them the cases he knew were pressing, take them into his confessional and speak 
to them of their wants in a manner that filled them with astonishment. 

" Seeing a young Savoyard lady in the congregation, he told her in passing, that 
he would see her on the morrow. As she had but just arrived and was a perfect 
stranger she thought he had mistaken her for some one else, but on the morrow when 
she was admitted to his confessional, he told her her most secret thoughts ; amongst 
other things of which she had never spoken, of her desire to enter a religious house, 
of the sisters she had left at home, and their special characters, all of which was 
perfectly correct. 

" Another lady from a distance, he advised to look after her property and dispose 
of it at once to her relatives as she had no time to lose. Although in middle life and 
perfect health apparently, she died suddenly, almost immediately after following his 
advice. This the lady's relations, grateful for his judicious council, informed him of. 

"Le Pere Nigre who was planning in his own mind a soldier's home at Tourbieres, 
when preaching there, stated in the pulpit, that he had just been to D'Ars, when the 
Cure, to whom he was a stranger, accosted him by saying, ' Well, father, how go on 
your plans for the soldiers' home ? Come ; when will you have done thinking of it, 
and begin building it.^ 'Now,' said the preacher, 'though this thing was in my 
mind, I had never spoken of it to a living creature, yet he knew all about it.' 

" During the excitement of the Revolution of 1848, many persons consulted him 
about the safety of their families. He bade them rest in peace for there would be no 
blood spilled except in and just round Paris. 

" During the Crimean war he was asked to pray for the safety of a soldier there, 
and a sister ill at home. He replied, ' The soldier will return quite safe ; the sister 
is ripe for heaven.' He was quite right in both cases. A young lady, during the 
Italian war, was in great terror for her husband. 'Tell her,' said the Cure, 'that she 
has nothing to fear. Peace will be made directly.' This was on the 25th June. The 
news of the interview of Villafranca came directly afterwards. 

"A man who had a little land, offered it for sale to the Cure; he advised him 
whatever he did not to part with it. Very soon after, a mine was discovered in it, 
which secured the proprietor two thousand francs annually. On the other hand, a 
director of mines consulted him on investing in a new mine lately opened, and which 
promised to pay richly. He counselled him by no means to do it. "Twelve days after, 
the mine was flooded with water and became unworkable, besides causing the death 
of various persons. 

"The Cure, like many of the old saints, believed himself terribly assailed by the 
devil, and no doubt he was, but perhaps not to the extent that he supposed. But let 
us see what phenomena surrounded him, for actual spirits were busy about him ; and 
let us take their proceedings from his own point of view. From the moment that 
the Cure opened the orphan house at D'Ars, six years after his going there, and thence 
to the end of his life, he was beset by the continual evidences of what he deemed 
Satanic influence. At nine o'clock one evening, as he retired to rest, he was startled 
by three loud knocks at his outer gate, as if they would drive it in with a huge club. 
He arose, threw open the window, and asked who was there. No answer was 
given. He returned to bed, but was scarcely asleep when he was roused again by 
other blows, this time not on the outer gate, but on that of the staircase leading to 
his chamber. He arose and called out, but again there was no answer. Imagining 
that they were thieves who came to steal some valuables belonging to the Viscomte 
d'Ars, he had two stout men to come and sleep at the parsonage ; these men heard 
the same noises, but were unable to discover any one, and soon came to the con- 
clusion that they were produced by no human power. They continued their watch 
for several nights, still hearing the noises, but discovering no one. A snow fell in the 
night, and the blows coming on the front door, the Cure descended quickly, thinking 
this time he should be abb to trace them by their footmarks in the snow. To his 
astonishment there were no marks at all. He was now quite satisfied that the men 
were right, that they were no mortal disturbers. Some young men of the village, 
however, formed themselves into a guard over the house during the night, and a 
party of his neighbours came and slept in the room adjoining his own. The cart- 
wright of the village came, carrying his loaded gun with him. At midnight there 
came a terrific noise, and the furniture of the room in which this poor man was 
stationed, resounded as if with a storm of blows. The cries for help caused the Cure 
and other watchers to rush in, but nothing was either to be seen or heard. 

" These disturbances continued with more or less violence for a period of over 
thirty-live years. Sometimes there were heard sounds as if a wild horse were rearing 

5 



66 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

in the hall below the Cure's room throwing his hoofs to the ceiling and then plunging 
with all four feet on the tiled floor. 

" At other times a gendarme seemed to be ascending the stairs in his boots, and 
stamping loudly as he ascended. Again it seemed like a great flock of sheep passing 
above his head, and making sleep impossible by that monotonous patter of hoofs. 
Catherine Lassagne in her notes of her life at the Providence at Ars, relates many such 
things, and says that every one who knew the Cure, knew that he would sooner suffer 
death than state an untruth. He said to her one day that when the flock of sheep 
seemed running over his head, he has taken a stick and struck smart blows on the 
ceiling to cause them to be silent, but to no purpose. Just as he would be dropping 
asleep, ' Grappin, ' as he called the devil, or the grappling iron, would begin, as it 
were anew, hooping a cask with iron hoops, and with a tremendous din. 

•' All this things, remarks the Abbe Monnin, are precisely what happened to the 
ancient saints, and which are to be found in abundance in the Diabolische Mystik, of 
Gores, B.V., chapters xxi. and xxii. On the occasion of the Cure going to Saint 
Trivier-sur-Moignans to preach, at a great jubilee held by the missionaries, he was 
much teased by his brother clergymen about these hauntings. They were very witty 
about them, telling him they all came of not living well enough ; that they were rats, 
and a dozen other things. The Cure took it all in good part, bade them good night, 
and went to bed. At midnight these gentlemen came rushing to his room in terrible 
affright. The house seemed turned topsy-turvy ; the doors banged, the windows rattled, 
the walls shook, and ominous cracks appeared to announce their fall. ' Rise ! rise ! ' 
they cried to the Cure, who was lying quietly, ' the house falls.' ' Oh ! ' said he, ' I 
know very well what it is ; go to your beds : you have nothing to fear.' An hour 
after a bell rung : there was a man at the gate who had come several leagues to con- 
fess to the Cure. He always expected when these disturbances took place that some 
one was on his way to seek consolation from him ; and it never failed to prove so. He 
believed the demons made the uproar out of envy of the good he was about to do. 
The clergy, however, were cured of laughing at him, and one of them made a vow 
never again to jest on apparitions and nocturnal noises. Another night the devil, the 
Cure said, had amused himself by pushing him about his chamber all night on a bed 
on castors ; and the next day when he entered his confessional, he felt himself lifted 
up and tossed about as though he had been in a boat on a rough sea. 

'' But was the devil really engaged in all these transactions ? The truth probably 
is, that M. Vianney had so reduced his body by fasting, p-enance and enormous exer- 
tion, that he had opened himself to all kinds of spiritual impressions, in which the 
devil was sure to have his share. But most likely many of these ghostly visitors were 
merely spirits of a low order who liked to amuse themselves, as they found the Cur^ 
accessible to them. Many, no doubt, like those who visited the Seeress of Prevorst, 
would have been glad of his prayers, had he not been so completely shut up on that 
head, by his catholic demonophobia. 

" Nothing, however, is more certain than that the worthy Cure d'Ars was actively 
beset by spirits of one kind or another for upwards of thirty years. He exorcised 
several persons who were possessed, and records dialogues with these demons in 
which they assured him that they often said mass. 

" Altogether the biography of the Cure d'Ars is one of the most remarkable of 
modern times. Miracles of the highest and lowest kinds were in active operation 
round him for a long course of years. They were exhibited before thousands and tens 
of thousands of people of all classes and ranks and of many countries. 

" What had been reported from all past ages by men of the highest character for 
veracity learning and talent, was repeated at Ars for thirty-five years in all its 
powers. ... Yet we are told that all this time the press of France preserved a 
profound silence on the matter as though no such things were taking place." 

To the well-informed Spiritualist, all comment on this strange history is 
unnecessary. The greatest miracle of the good man's life is the fact that 
the stolid scepticism of a cold materialistic age can still exist, after events 
of _ such astonishing and world-wide celebrity have testified to divine and 
spiritual interposition in human affairs. 

Another phenomenal personage of whom the world has heard much, was 
a soldier commonly known as Jacob the Zouave, a healer of remarkable 
power, and one who during his brief mission performed many wonderful 
cures. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 67 

In 1866 or 1867, he first became publicly known whilst yet attached to 
his regiment, for his curative as well as clairvoyant powers. From childhood 
he seemed to have been endowed with spiritual gifts of which those around 
him had little understanding. 

Without any instruction, he often executed beautiful drawings of strange 
fruit and flowers which he said grew on the planet Venus. He could 
readily detect the nature of obscure diseases and read the character and 
lives of strangers — in a word, he exhibited constant proofs of clairvoyant 
powers up to the time when he became famous amongst his military 
associates for " curing sick people by magnetism, sympathy, and in other 
strange ways." 

As soon as it was known outside his regiment that he possessed these 
gifts, he was followed everywhere by solicitations to exercise them. Amongst 
those who heard of and appealed to the famous Zouave, was a talented 
young gentleman studying at one of the universities, but who was obliged 
to relinquish all his hopes of name and fame on account of a confirmed 
sciatica which settled in the right hip and obliged him to walk painfully on 
crutches for four years. This gentleman, M, Marney, informed the author 
he paid but one visit to Jacob who held his hands, stroked his body a few 
times and then bid him walk — he did so, and never after experienced the 
slightest sense of pain or lameness. This marvellous cure wrought on the 
son of a wealthy landowner, attracted so much attention that the barracks 
at Versailles where M. Jacob was quartered became thronged with visitors. 

The officers and men were plied with entreaties for permission to see the 
healer, and the place — ^to use the words of one of his superior officers, 
when describing the scene to a company in which the author was present — 
" resembled a bear garden." Order and discipline was interrupted, the 
annoyance was unendurable, and the wonderful Zouave was informed he 
must either give up his profession of killing or curing, for the two were 
incompatible. After much effort on the part of his friends and admirers, 
the Zouave's release from the army was procured, and he commenced his 
career in earnest as a healing medium. Many of his most astonishing cures 
were effected whilst he yet remained in the army, but when he was emanci- 
pated from that restraint, the enthusiasm which followed him knew no 
bounds. 

Doubtless, many of the reports concerning him were exaggerated, and 
many understated, according to the predilections of the narrators. Certain 
it is, that his cures were often remarkable enough to be called miraculous, 
although he himself told the author in an evening visit paid to her in 
London, that he never professed to cure every one, and indeed many he 
felt from the first moment of their approach so strongly repelled from, that 
he knew instantly they were no subjects for him. On this same occasion 
he explained to those present, that he saw the diseases of those who came 
to him, and very often realised that they had sick friends or relatives whose 
condition, if time had permitted, he could have described accurately. To 
prove this, he undertook to describe a young lady well known to the 
author, and then a resident of America. 

He gave an excellent account of this lady's personal appearance, but 
insisted that she was the victim of a disease which would terminate fatally 
in a given period of time, a prediction which was actually fulfilled, although 
the disease itself was unknown at the time. He (M. Jacob) added, that 
he almost always saw spirits busy in ministering to the patients who called 
upon him, and helping him in his modes of treatment. 



68 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Many persons complained that this soldier-doctor was brusque and abrupt 
in manners, hence that he was not generally popular with those even whom 
he had most benefited. Whether M. Jacob deemed it prudent to imitate 
the rough, repulsive, manners adopted by so many of our most popular 
EngUsh doctors, under the impression, doubtless, that it is Abernethy-like 
and imposing, or whether the complainants asked too much of an humble 
private soldier, when they required polished manners, in addition to a 
GRATUITOUS CURE, we need not take the trouble to enquire. That which 
we do know is, that the lame walked, the blind received their sight, and the 
deaf heard, and all this and much more than any ordinary chronicle can 
record, was done without money and without price, for the Zouave would 
neither accept of money or presents for his great services, and beyond a 
paltry franc, paid by those who chose to buy his photograph of his father, 
who stood at the door with them for sale, this generous and magnanimous 
creature never received aught for his services, beyond the consciousness of 
the priceless good he was performing. 

Although the readers of the Spiritual journals on both sides of the 
Atlantic have become familiar with the name of Jacob the Zouave, and the 
methods of his cures have been too frequently described to need reitera- 
tion, it is but justice to this noble and self-sacrificing worker to insert at 
least one testimonial from a grateful patient, and that in relation to a cure, 
which may be taken as an illustration of the Zouave's usual mode of pro- 
cedure. 

The letter in question was addressed to the Patrie newspaper. It was 
written by the Count Chateau Villard, residing at 60, Rue St. Lazare, Paris, 
and was introduced by the editor in the following words : — 

" We have several times alluded to the Zouave Jacob, garrisoned at Versailles ; 
but who comes to Paris to effect his marvellous cures. 

" What is the secret of all this, and has he any ? Is he gifted with a degree of 
magnetic influence unrecognized until now ? How are the various cures of suffering 
people to be explained ? We can give no opinion ; all we know is, that the house in 
which he operates is continually attended by invalids; one after the other takes his 
ticket in order to arrive in turn. 

" We must add that the Zouave will receive no money, gifts, or thanks ; he will 
accept literally nothing ! All these facts are attested by an honourable witness in the 
person of the Count Chateau Villard, residing at 60, Rue St. Lazare, who writes as 
follows : — 

" ' Sir, — Reading in the newspapers that I had offered a part of my private residence 
to the Zouave Jacob, I beg of you to be so good as to insert, that I have made the 
offer only in the event of his being forced to quit his quarters in the Rue Roquette. 

" ' God knows that I have no wish to take him away from the poor afflicted who 
will know well where to find him ; I have made the offer in gratitude, and for the 
benefit of humanity. 

" ' I had heard such extraordinary things of the Zouave, that, paralyzed as I was, 
I had a desire to attend one of his seances ; I took my lady with me, who has been a 
continual sufferer also, and I here state what actually occurred. 

" ' On arriving in the Rue Roquette, where there was a stoppage, I alighted from 
my carriage with the aid of my valet, and a kind working man who hastened to take 
my other arm. These two assisted me to the workshop of Monsieur Dufayet. In this 
condition I arrived at the door, where a person who could not be bribed, refused me 
admission without a numbered ticket ; my secretary, who by a fortunate accident 
happened to know the principal clerk of M. Dufayet, beckoned to him, and he seeing 
my state of impotence allowed me to enter into the court, crowded with sick people. 
The arrangements of the Zouave are that those who are at the worst, should be 
treated first. 

" ' My lady began to weep at seeing so much misery. There was a lady who had 
brought her daughter ; she stated that the child was being treated within ; that she 
herself was not allowed to assist, inasmuch as the doors are only open to actual 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 69 

invalids. I observed after, the young girl come out, and walk to the vehicle which 
had brought her, followed by her mother. This same girl had been taken to the place 
carried by a man. 

" ' I also noticed a man with a distorted back, unable to walk, make his exit 
jumping with joy ; whilst the plaudits of the crowd, and persons from that quarter 
of the town who recognized him, joined in. 

" ' We were introduced at last to the chamber, which may really be designated the 
miracle chamber. I saw there a human being frightfully afflicted, paralyzed and 
incredibly ill, brought in by M. Dufayet and his assistants, and placed m chairs 
closely packed one against the other. 

'' ' As soon as the apartment was full, the Zouave entered and said, " No one must 
speak unless I interrogate him, otherwise I leave you." Here the greatest stillness 
reigned. He then went round telling each one what was the matter with him, and 
without touching them he said " Rise up ! " and those that had been paralyzed arose ; 
I am one of the number and raised myself without the slightest effort. 

'' ' At the end of about twenty minutes, he told us all to retire and amidst profound 
silence each one left. My wife, more polite than I, wanted to thank him ; he imme- 
diately imposed silence and said, " Other sufferers await me ; you are cured, let that 
suffice, begone ! " On going out I was much crowded upon by persons asking me 
affectionately of what had occurred, and I regained my carriage without help, walking 
upon a very badly paved street where the best man might find it awkward. 

''' From that time forth, my wife also has been marvellously well. 

''' There is an extraordinary fact connected with this strange circumstance which 
it gives me pleasure to relate ; the street is crowded with sick people ; not only 
one is desirous to give a helping hand, but all seem to forget their ailments in their 
interest to help others. 

'"Can it be, that this immense charitable influence spreads itself from one source 
into the hearts of all ? 

'"I am, &c,, 

" ' (Signed), Chateau Villard.' " 

" ' Paris, August, 1867." " 

More than one half of the columns of the Petit Journal, a paper of the 
largest circulation in Paris, was occupied for several days the following 
September with Jacob's past and present history. One of the editors of 
that journal made the Zouave's acquaintance at the camp at Chalons in 
August 1866, where his fame created as much excitement as it subse- 
quently did in Paris, and the editor vouched for a wonderful cure of a 
long standing complaint effected for a woman who was a servant in his 
family. 

The crowds that assembled daily round Jacob's tent at Chalons, obliged 
the officer in command to put an end lo Jacob's practice of his great and 
undoubted gift of heahng. 

The phenomenon of healing by magnetic or spiritual methods has been 
by no means an uncommon one in France. 

Many mediums less distinguished than Jacob the Zouave, but not less 
successful in a more limited sphere, have practised their art throughout 
the land with excellent results. Amongst the records of remarkable cures, 
it has often been questioned, how far the reports of " healing miracles," 
attributed to the celebrated shrine, grotto, or fountain of "Our Lady at 
Lourdes," may be relied on as genuine. As many of our readers may not 
be famiUar with the current accounts rendered of this famous spotj, we 
deem it in order to conclude this chapter with a brief narrative furnished 
from a distinguished writer, who himself visited the scene of the reputed 
miracles, brought away with him a small phial of the healing water, and 
left behind a severe ulcer which for many months had fastened on his arm, 
without his being able to obtain any reUef from the ordinary course of 
medical treatment. This gentleman who was obliged to conceal the little 



70 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

specimen of the water he carried away, from the watchful eyes of the atten- 
dant brothers, who have the sacred place in charge, could only learn from 
them an account of its miraculous discovery with a mass of attendant 
circumstances so completely in harmony with ten thousand other legends 
of Catholic wonders, that he was at much pains to obtain information from 
somewhat more disinterested sources. These he at length arrived at, and 
from a young peasant who had been one of the most intimate associates 
of the favoured Seeress Bernadette, the discoverer of the spring, he received 
the following particulars. Bernadette was the invalid child of a very poor 
couple, Soubiroux by name, who lived on the outskirts of the town of 
Lourdes, a small place but little known till recently, in the Upper Pyrenees. 
Marguerite, the peasant friend of this family, seemed to imply, that little 
Bernadette was subject to fits, and on the whole, was what the Scotch 
country folks would call a Httle " daft," or at the most, not quite as bright 
as ordinary children. 

With a view of promoting a more rugged condition of health, this little 
one was permitted to wander round the neighbouring heights, and follow 
the simple occupation of sheep tending. One day as the child was 
wandering with some of her other companions on the banks of the river 
Gave, having lingered behind them to bathe her feet in the clear stream, 
she was amazed to find herself breathed upon by a sweet wind, although 
at that time there seemed to be no air stirring. Presently a sense of deep 
awe fell upon her, and as her companion to whom she confided her 
experience, informed the narrator, a white angel all radiant and glorious with 
a halo around her head, and shining white garments, appeared before her, 
bidding her not to be afraid. When the angel disappeared, the little 
Seeress hastened to rejoin her companions, and at their suggestion returned 
to the spot, hoping they too might see the glorious vision. The girl 
Marguerite, seemed to imply that no one in that neighbourhood believed 
much that this child said, hence they were neither surprised nor dis- 
appointed that no shining white lady appeared to them. It was added, that 
no one would ever have had faith in these visions although httle Bernadette 
repeatedly averred that she continued to see them, until she one day came 
home and reported, that the white angel had conducted her to a grotto in 
the rocks, and there made her bathe her feet in a cold spring, and 
that then she went on her way Hghter and stronger than she had ever been 
in her life. 

This tale induced her protectors, some poor peasants who had the charge 
of her, to repair with her to the grotto, when one of their number who had 
a paralyzed hand dipped it into the spring, to try if he too could feel how 
cold it was. On withdrawing it, great was his astonishment to find that he 
could use his hand and that in all respects it was entirely restored. Others 
following the peasant's example, flocked to the newly-discovered spring and 
each experienced immediate relief of whatever ailment possessed them. 
Why follow up the narrative farther ? 

The peasants of Lourdes when separately and cautiously questioned, all 
unite in confirming the above story in all its general features ; all moreover 
have marvels to relate of the hundreds, and some insist, thousands^ of 
miraculous cures that have been effected by these wonder-working waters. 

But who may describe the elaborations and embeUishments that the 
Brothers of Lourdes report of the sacred spring ? For there are Brothers 
there now, and they not only have charge of the sacred waters, but of litde 
Bernadette likewise, and very good care they take of her — so much so, 




The Cure D'Ars 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 71 

that she is never seen nor can she be enquired of by the profane, only by 
select members of Holy Mother Church, and faithful votaries of — not the 
white angel any longer, but " Our Lady of Lourdes " even " the Blessed 
Virgin herself," through whose miraculous inspiration — " her adopted 
child," the Saint in embryo, Bernadette, was also miraculously guided to the 
sacred grotto, &c. 

From this plain narrative of plain facts, the reader is at liberty to draw 
his own conclusions as we venture to draw ours. If he happen to be a 
good Catholic, little Bernadette's angelic visitor will of course be the 
impersonation of " the Blessed Virgin," and the chances are ten to one but 
he or she will give a donation towards the erection of a magnificent church 
and a full staff of priests and attendant church dignitaries, whose duty it 
will ultimately become to absorb the healing spring for the sole use and 
benefit of the said church, of " Our Lady of Lourdes." 

If these pages be scanned by medical eyes of the " Lankaster " and 
" Forbes Winslow " type, the child's visions will be bosh ! the water's 
magnetic properties " trash," and the cures — all the effects of that most 
wonderful of all healers — "imagination." To any Spiritualist readers 
comment is unnecessary. White angels leading poor mortals to benefi- 
cent discoveries are not so rare amongst us as to create wonder or disbe- 
lief All we may have to regret is, that little Bernadette and her angel 
visitants have not an opportunity to manipulate the heaUng waters of 
Lourdes without the aid of a band of highly interested " Brothers." 



CHAPTER X. 

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE (CONTINUED). 

Phenomenal and Experimental Manifestations. 

We presume our readers are sufficiently informed of the modus operandi 
of Spiritual manifestations, to be aware that their production is due either 
to the spontaneous action of spirits, or to their evocation through the 
modern circle. 

Some instances of the former mode we have already cited, and hundreds 
more could be described did space permit. 

M. Alphonse Cahagnet has recorded numerous cases of apparitions, stone- 
throwing, hauntings, visions, prophetic and warning dreams, &c.,all occurring 
spontaneously, in this century, in his appendix to the first volume of 
" Secrets of the Life to Come." The Baron de Guldenstubbe has made a 
still more voluminous collection of modern facts in his invaluable work 
entitled Pneumatologie Positive. Some of these have been detailed by Mr, 
R. D. Owen, in his " Footfalls," and others again are mentioned in Wm. 
Howitt's magnificent work " The History of the Supernatural." From a 
large collection of kindred narratives we select the following as an illustra- 
tion of the beneficent character of spirit influence in respect to spontaneous 
healing. As the case was fully reported in the Revtie Spirite of 1877, ^^ 



72 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

take advantage of a translation made by Dr. Carter Blake for one of the 
London Spiritual Journals, which reads as follows : — 

" M. Dauzac had both his legs broken by a heavily laden cart passing over them. 
The doctors in consultation declared amputation necessary, so shattered were the 
limbs. M. Dauzac's son, who is a medium, retired from the sick room, and prayed 
fervently that advice might be given him from the spirit world, and in particular that 
a good spirit, known to him as Dr. Demeure, might be sent to help his father. The 
following words were then written through his hand :— ' Do not consent to the ampu- 
tation, your father will recover ; he will be able to walk and attend to his affairs 
again. I will mesmerise him spiritually, and give him strength to bear the operation, 
which I will perform myself; after much suffering he will be delivered from this 
affliction.' 

"The doctors came, but pronounced against amputation as useless to save the 
patient's life. He was in a high state of fever, and already doomed. They replaced 
the bandages and left the house. Immediately Demeure, aided by a band of spirits, 
began his operations. M. Dauzac says — 

" 'I was placed in a position in which I could not have held myself without iron 
supports ; I then felt a hand rubbing me so hard that I cried out ; everything seemed 
to be unwound and displaced ; I believed that I was suffering from cramp, for my son 
had invoked the beneficent spirit unknown to me. In about ten minutes, when I was 
quite exhausted with pain and fatigue, I was allowed to rest a little ; and what ease 
I felt ! Ten minutes later I exclaimed, '' There it is again ! It is in the other leg ! 
Everything is being undone." The watchers declared nothing had happened; the 
operation was repeated five times on each leg, at mtervals of ten mmutes ; after that 
I slept the whole night. 

"The following morning the son consulted his spirit-friends, and Dr. Demeure 
declared that bones, tendons, veins, and fibres had all been duly laid in proper order, 
and that the cure would be effected. The legs would be slightly shorter than before, 
but the patient would not be lame, though he would sometimes suffer pain. A dan- 
gerous crisis followed, consequent on the extraction by the doctors of a portion of 
detached bone ; nevertheless, young M. Dauzac, encouraged by the assurance of his 
spirit guides, would not give up hopes of his father's recovery. One evening he was 
told, ' To-morrow he will begin to mend, and will steadily 'improve until restored to 
health.' The next morning the doctor inquired of a neighbour, before entering the 
house, whether M. Dauzac were dead. ' No, he is better,' was the reply. ' I am 
astonished," said the doctor, 'this change must be the precursor of death.' A fort- 
night later he told his patient, ' You may now get up ; but be careful, for only one in a 
thousand could have lived through this : whether this cure be of God or the devil I 
do not know, but there is something in it which I cannot understand.' M. Dauzac 
replied, ' You only see in disease a disorganisation of matter ; when you have learned 
the part played by the soul and the perispnt m the physiology of man, and the 
relations between spirit and matter, this fact will be no longer a mystery to you, and 
you will make many more remarkable cures.' The doctor had nothing to reply, 
except that M. Dauzac would certainly never walk again. He went on crutches for a 
fortnight, and was then able to dispense with them altogether. 

" The record from which the above is somewhat condensed is signed by M. Dauzac, 
his son, and thirteen other persons, and is dated Naujean par Brame, Gironde, 
January i8th, 1877, and is published in the June number of the R&vw Spirite." 

As professional mediumship is Httle practised in France except when 
patronage is bestowed upon visitors of that class from other countries, we 
do not feel at liberty to name the various media through whom the members 
of private circles have the opportunity of witnessing phenomena, still we 
have personal evidence of the fact, that hundreds of circles are held in 
Paris and various parts of France, at which phenomena both of physical 
and mental types are produced in great abundance. 

There can be no doubt that the first well marked impulse which 
experimental SpirituaUsm received through the invocatory processes of the 
circle, in France, as in many other countries of Europe, was due to the 
visit of Mr. D. D. Home, the celebrated, non-professional, physical medium 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 73 

and subsequently to the large influx of professional mediums who found in 
France an excellent field for the demonstration of their peculiar gifts. 

Of Mr. Home's stances it would be superfluous to write, he himself 
having related them in two volumes pubHshed at different periods of his 
career, and his many admiring friends having sufficiently described the 
marvels of which they were witnesses in numerous magazine and news- 
paper articles. 

Mr. Home's manifestations were given in France almost exclusively to 
personages of rank or those distinguished by literary fame. He was a 
guest of royalty, the nobility, and persons of the highest position. During 
his residence in Paris, under the Imperial regime, he was a frequent and 
ever welconje visitor at the Court of the late Emperor, Louis Napoleon. 
A record of the manifestations produced through his mediumship was kept 
by command of the Empress, and frequently read to her favoured 
friends. Amongst these memoranda is one which went the round of the 
papers at the time of its occurrence, hence there can be no impropriety in 
alluding to it now. It stated that on one occasion a sianee was held at the 
Tuileries, when none were present save the Emperor, the Empress, the 
Duchess de Montebello, and Mr. D. D. Home. 

On the table were placed pen, ink, and paper, and presently a spirit 
hand was seen, which dipped the pen in the ink and deliberately wrote the 
name of the first Napoleon, in a perfectly facsimile of that illustrious 
monarch's handwriting. The Emperor asked if he might be permitted 
to kiss this wonderful hand, when it instantly rose to his lips, subsequently 
passing to those of the Empress, and Mr. Home. The Emperor carefully 
preserved this precious autograph, and inscribed with it a memorandum to 
the effect, that the hand was warm, soft, and resembled exactly that of his 
great predecessor and uncle. 

From personal knowledge of Mr. Home, the author is able to testify 
that his powers were most unique, and his mode of exhibiting them clear, 
candid, and unaffected. 

None but the most wilfully blind or prejudiced observer could attach the 
idea of fraud or deception to Mr. Home. 

The author has been present in brilliantly lighted salons, when the spirits 
have impelled Mr. Home to take burning coals in his hand, and lay his 
head upon a blazing fire without the slightest injury to the tissues of the 
skin or hair; when his body was elongated several times, from five to eight 
inches beyond his usual height without the least perceptible motion on Mr. 
Home's part ; when he was floated in the air above the heads of all present ; 
also, when delightful strains of music were played on an accordion 
untouched by human hands. 

These, together with loud rappings, spirit music, motions of heavy 
bodies, entrancement, speaking in various languages, the apparition of 
many hands, in a word every form of spiritual manifestation exhibited 
through other media, have all been produced through Mr. Home, without 
the equivocal conditions of darkness, cabinets, or the smallest show of 
deception, or desire to evade any proposed test. It is no wonder that the 
phenomena abundantly produced, and freely given under such circum- 
stances, should have created an immense sensation in the circles of 
privileged witnesses and excited a corresponding amount of bitterness and 
antagonism amongst the enemies of Spiritualism, especially those who were 
not favoured with an entree to the scene of the marvels. 

Thus it was, that certain disreputable members of the press, scribblers 



74 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

whose speciality it was to pander to the lowest appetites of the vulgar, and 
slander those whose positions were beyond their reach, began to pelt Mr. 
Home and his friends with the scurrility peculiar to their calling. 

Disgraceful lampoons were directed against him, and libellous charges 
freely circulated. The total absence of justice which marks all judicial 
proceedings in which Spiritualists are concerned, deterred Mr. Home from 
attempting to seek redress for these harassing attacks, meantime their 
effect was confined to those who wished them to be true, Mr. Home's 
personal friends being too well satisfied of his work to be affected by 
scurrility or slander. 

Another efficient labourer in the spiritual vineyards of France, was Mr. 
RoUin Squire, a young American gentleman, now an eminent lawyer in 
Boston, who visited Europe about i860, and passed some months on the 
Continent. Mr. Squire was a physical medium endowed with an extra- 
ordinary amount of the power which enables spirits to lift immense weights, 
and perform feats of strength impossible to a giant, much less to a fragile 
youth like the medium. 

The young American soon became highly popular, and as he never 
received any payment beyond the pleasure he felt in obliging those who 
feted him, his motives were of course, placed beyond suspicion of self- 
interest. 

In 1865 the work of experimental Spiritualism was greatly aided by the 
introduction of the celebrated American mediums, the Davenport Brothers, 
who were induced to visit Paris at the instance of Mr. Samuel Guppy, a 
wealthy English gentleman, devoted to the study of Spiritualism and its 
phenomena. 

During their stay in Paris, the Davenports were called upon to give a 
specimen of their peculiar power in presence of the Emperor of the French. 
Mr. Benjamin Coleman, a steady adherent of the Spiritual cause in England, 
furnished the following account of this seance for the London Spiritual 
Magazine : — 

THE BROTHERS DAVENPORT AND THE EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH. 

'' The French special correspondent of the Star announced that the Davenports 
had ' performed at St. Cloud in the presence of the Emperor, Empress, Prince 
Imperial, and all the Court ! ' The facts of their visit I have from one who was pre- 
sent, and they are as follows : — 

" On the arrival of the Davenports at St. Cloud, accompanied by their confrere, Mr. 
Wm. Fay, they found to their surprise that all the preliminary arrangements had been 
made for the dark circle. Two strong common chairs were placed in the salon, and 
the fires had been put out to secure the necessary condition of complete darkness. 
The cabinet being erected in the presence of the Imperial party, under the closest 
scrutiny, the exhibition commenced ; as it proceeded, the Emperor showed that he 
was not only intensely interested, by repeated ejaculations of ' How extraordinary ! ' 
'How wonderful ! ' but he readily comphed with every condition, and insisted upon 
perfect order being kept. Two persons who were laughing and making sceptical 
remarks, were reproved, and reminded by him that if they felt no interest in the 
exhibition they might find more amusement in the billiard room. The Marquis la 
Grange having entered the cabinet with the Davenports, he extended his arms, and 
was fast bound to each of the brothers in the usual way. The instant the doors were 
closed the noise and confusion which was heard within the cabinet surprised the 
Imperial party extremely ; when the doors were thrown open and the Marquis was 
seen with his cravat removed, a bell stuck in his waistcoat, the violin and guitar fan- 
tastically arranged about his person, and the tambourine upon his head, the Emperor 
threw himself back in his chair and laughed heartily at the grotesque appearance of 
the helpless and somewhat frightened Marquis, who on his part seriously and 
emphatically assured the company that the brothers had not moved a muscle. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 75 

" During the dark circle the Emperor and Empress frequently exclaimed, ' A hand 
is touching me.' A watch being held b}^ the Emperor in the palm of his hand, it was 
at his request given to the Empress, and upon her asking that it might be taken to the 
Prince Imperial it was instantly conveyed a distance of 60 feet to the young Prince, 
who threw it from him exclaiming, ' It was so hot, he could not hold it.' 

" When Mr. Fay's hands were tightly bound behind his back, the Emperor gave 
his seal to impress the wax with which the knots on Mr. Fay's wrists were secured. 
In an instant Mr. Fay's coat was whisked from his back, and was seen flying through 
the air. The Emperor satisfying himself that the cords and seal were still intact 
upon Mr. Fay's wrists, he exclaimed again and again, ' Most wonderful ! most 
extraordinary ! ' 

'■ At the close of the seance the Imperial party asked many questions, the Emperor 
saying he was not surprised at the excitement which such an extraordinary exhibition 
created in a large assembly. It was, he thought, imprudent to attempt to show such 
phenomena to many persons at one time, who could not test for themselves their 
reality. After many expressions of their entire satisfaction the Imperial party with- 
drew at half-past one in the morning, and the Davenport party sat down to a 
sumptuous supper which had been provided for them at the palace. 

'' On the following day the Emperor marked his further appreciation of the exhibi- 
tion by sending to the Davenport party an unusually munificent gift for their services. 

"At the Davenports' suggestion the Emperor sent for M. Houdin, who exhibited his 
imitations, and without any comment being made by the Emperor, he was dismissed 
and paid the usual fee of 500 francs, and his expenses." 

Since the advent of the Davenports in Paris, many celebrated American 
and English mediums, such as Messrs. Chas. Foster, Henry Slade, Heme, 
Williams, Eglinton, Miss Fowler, Miss Nichol, Miss Cook, and others, both 
in a professional and private capacity have visited Paris and the principal 
cities of France, and stimulated investigation by their remarkable medial 
powers. 

xA.s there is very little variety in the demonstrations of clairvoyant or 
physical force mediumship and the public for years past has been fairly 
surfeited with magazine and journalistic accounts of seances, half a dozen of 
which will exemplify thousands, we forbear to offer the reader any detailed 
description of the phenomena produced through the various parties above 
named. Suffice it to say, they have collectively demonstrated beyond a 
peradventure to many thousands of believers, the solemn affirmative of the 
question, " if a man die shall he live again ? " 

There are a few incidents which break the monotony of ordinary circle 
representations, of which the following examples may QOt prove unacceptable. 

In the Gazette de France of 1855, we find a curious anecdote related by 
the Count de La Resie, Author of Traitt des Sciences Occultes concerning 
the mode in which the celebrated violinist Urham, received his charming 
morceau entitled Audition — (hearing). The Count says : — 

" Urham was a very pious man, and addicted to devotion ; he divided his life 
betwixt music and prayer. He had composed a melody to the charming words of the 
poet Reboul — ' Angel at the Cradle of the Sick Infant,' which is, as we know, his 
chef-d'-oeuvre. Urham after composing this was walking in the Bois de Boulogne. 
He was alone in a narrow glade, plunged into profound thought. All at once, he 
heard in the air a sound which greatly agitated him, and lifting up his head, he beheld 
a light without form and precision. To the sound which had so startled him succeeded 
another which was continuous, It was an air commenced — there was no doubt of it, 
and a voice sang the words of ' The Angel and the Infant,' but to an air totally 
different to the one he had composed. It was more simple and touching than his 
own. The melody acquired body in developing itself. Giving an attentive ear, he 
not only distinguished the air, but also an accompaniment with the accords of an 
.^olian harp. Astonished, and at the same time seized with a deep sadness at this 
celestial inspiration, he fell into a kind of ecstasy, and distinctly heard a voice which 
said to him : — ' Dear Urham, write down what I have sung.' He hurried home in a 



76 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

state of mind not to be described, and noted down the air which he had heard with 
the greatest facility : for the notes, he said, scored themselves on the paper. He pub- 
lished his inspirations, which he named Audition, as we have said, and it is a chif 
d'ceuvre of grace, simplicity, and delicious harmony. It is a similar case to that of the 
Devil's Sonata, of Tartini, except that it was in a dream that Tartini received it, and 
that the spirit, the more to strike his attention, had assumed a legendary form of a 
demon, for assuredly the sonata has nothing diabolic about it, but, on the contrary, 
is a very good composition for the time." 

The author, being deeply interested in the progress of musical art, and 
learning that the following remarkable incident had occurred in the experi- 
ence of one of her most intimate musical acquaintances, took much pains 
during a visit to Paris to ascertain the exact circumstances connected with 
it. 

It was stated by M. C. S. Bach that he had sent the account of his rela- 
tive's experiences to Le Grand Journal, which gave the narrative in terms 
of which the following is a translation, furnished by Mr. B. Coleman, of 
England : — 

" On the 4th of May, 1866, M. Leon Bach, of No. 3, Rue Castellane, great grandson 
of the celebrated Sebastian Bach, purchased a spinette of antique fashion admirably 
carved. After carefully examining it, he discovered on an interior board an inscription 
stating that it was made in Rome in 1564, He passed part of the day contemplating 
his precious spinette — he thought of it as he went to sleep, and it is no wonder that 
he had the following dream : — He saw a man stand at his bedside, who had a long 
beard ; shoes rounded at the toe, and large bows at the instep ; large full breeches, a 
doublet with slashed sleeves, stiff collar, and a hat with pointed crown and broad 
brim. This person bowed to M. Bach, and spoke as follows : — ' The spinette that 
you possess belonged to me. It frequently served me to entertain my master. King 
Henry III. When he was very young he composed an air with words, which he was 
fond of singing, and which I frequently played to him. This air and these words he 
composed in memory of a young lady that he once met with in a hunt, and of whom he 
became deeply enamoured. They took her away, and it is said that she was poisoned, 
and that the King was deeply distressed at the circumstance. Whenever he was sad 
he hummed this song ; and then, to divert his mind, I played on my spinette a sara- 
band of my composition, which he much loved. Thus I came to confound together 
these two pieces, for I was continually playing them one after the other.' 

" Then the man of the dream approached the spinette, and played a few notes, 
and sung the air with such expression, that M. Bach awoke in tears. He lit a candle, 
noticed the hour — two o'clock — and again fell asleep. Now it was, that the extra- 
ordmary scene took place. In the morning, on awaking, M. Bach was no little 
surprised to find on his bed a page of music covered with very fine writing and notes 
quite microscopic. It was with difficulty that he could decipher them by the aid of 
his eyeglass, for he is very near-sighted. 

" He then tried the air on the spinette. The song, the words, and the saraband 
were exactly as the person of the dream had represented them. Now M. Bach is no 
somnambulist ; has never written a verse in his life, and is a complete stranger to the 
rules of prosody. 

" Here are the three couplets as we have copied them from the MS. : — 

" Une jour pendant une chasse lointaine, 
Je aper9us pour la premiere fois. 
Je croyois voir un ange dans la plaine 
Lors je devins le plus heureux des roys ! 

" Je donnerois certes tout mon royaume 
Pour la revoir encor un seul instant ; 
Pres d'elle assis dessous un humble chaume 
Pour sentir mon cceur battre en I'admirant. 

" Triste et cloistree, oh ! ma pauvre belle, 
Fut loin de moy pendant ses derniers jours. 
EUe ne sent plus sa peine cruelle ; 
Icy bas, helas ! je souffre toujours. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 77 

" In this plaintive song, as well as in the joyous saraband which follows, the 
musical orthography is not less archaic than the literary orthography. The notes are 
of a form different from those of the present day. The basse, is written in one key and 
the song in another. M. Bach has obliged me by playing to me these two pieces, 
which have a melody simple, naive, and penetrating. 

"The Journal de VEto He S3.y 5 that Henry III. had a great passion for Marie de 
Cleves, the Marchioness d'Isles, who died in the flower of her age in a convent, the 
15th of October, 1574. Was she 'la pauvre belle triste et cloistree,' who is mentioned 
in these verses ? The same journal says that an ItaUan musician, named Baltazarini, 
went to France at that epoch, and became one of the favourites of the King. Did 
not the spinette belong to Baltazarini? Was it not the spirit of Baltazarini who 
wrote the song and the saraband." 

The necessity of passing on to other scenes compels us to limit the 
closing notices of this chapter to two or three extracts, for which we are 
indebted to the columns of the journal once so admirably conducted by 
the late M. Pierart, La Revue Spiritualiste :— 

" Paragraph i. M. Debray writes us from Noce (Orne) that Spiritualism in the 
experimental mode is making rapid progress. There are, he says, several circles held, 

at one of which — Mdlle. Hermione P being the medium — direct writing is 

obtained from' spirits who address each of the company by name, and write in small 
but almost perfectly finished characters, resembling copper-plate. 

" Paragraph 2. At the trial of Jean Lamenire, for forgery, the Judge gave sentence 
against the prisoner, but our friends at the Bordelaise circle, on the previous night had 
spelled out the exact words in which the sentence was given, and the number of years 

of the conviction. Our medium Catalina N was present with us ; could the 

Judge have read our minds ? 

" (Signed) Dr. J. Vernay. 

" Paragraph 3. Our old friend Jobard writes from Metz — ' I cautiously sounded 
my host as to whether there was any table talking there.' ' Certainly,' was the answer. 
' Metz is a second Paris for novelties ; we have here several Nobles, Professors, and 
other celebrities, who are so unfortunate as to be believers and practisers too of the 
table talking art.' Even old pupils of the Ecole Polytechnic, finished mathematicians, 
and others, who have never before shown signs of mental derangement, turn religious, 
and put up prayers to God to send them — what would you think ?—good spirits to be 
their guardian angels ! What are we coming to next ? Some of us may be heard by- 
and-bye talking of the Spirit land instead of Heaven or Hell, and inviting our deceased 
ancestors, to a dejeuner a la fourchette." 

Continuing to write of the Metz Spiritualists M. Jobard says : — 

"A collection of communications received by these Metz Spiritualists is just pub- 
lished. The tract I speak of will give you an elevated idea of the mediums here. 

" Spiritualism has made an opening at Havre, the medium being a young American 
lady. In Belgium we have two excellent mediums now — one French, the other 
English. 

"Among other interesting particulars in the correspondence of the Revue is the 
following : — 

" ' Phenomena of an eminently spiritual order have been long observed in the 
religious community of La Souterraine (Creuse). Madame Dubourg, the venerable 
superior, while at prayer, is often raised above a foot from her Prie Dieu, remaining 
suspended in an ecstatic state and unconscious for several minutes. She was raised 
in this way one day while receiving the communion, to the dismay of the priest, who 
could not, for his agitation, finish the celebration of the office. Other facts of a similar 
character take place in this establishment, but they are kept concealed as much as 
possible, so as not to attract a crowd of curious people to the place. 

" At la Chatre (Indre), in the Ursuline community, one of the sisters was disabled 
with hip disease, in which there was dislocation from disorganization of the joint. 
She has long been laid up, under the care of Dr. Vergne and others. Given up by 
them, the lady superior had recourse to prayer. A neuvaine was commenced ; on the 
last nine days, the patient, worn out with her long suffering and prolonged recumbent 
position, was carried on her couch into the chapel. There, in the presence of the 



78 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

statue of St. Joseph, and after prayer, the superior cried out in an inspired tone — ' In 
the name of St. Joseph, arise and walk ! ' The sister arose and walked perfectly 
healed. 

" Dr. Vergne first denied the possibility ; but upon seeing that the girl is well, he 
attributes the necessary healing and reduction to— emotion /"' 

As an evidence of the wide popularity to which the subject of 
Spiritualism had attained in 1869, M. Pierart quotes in one of his 
numbers of that year, an article from the Siede, a leading paper, but one 
which had hitherto contained many notices inimical to Spiritualism. The 
writer, M. Eugene Bonnemere, says : — 

" Although Somnambuhsm has been a hundred times annihilated by the Academy 
of Medicine, it is more alive than ever in Paris : in the midst of all the lights of the 
age it continues, right or wrong, to excite the multitude. Protean in its forms, infinite 
in its manifestations, if you put it out of the door, it knocks at the window ; if that 
be not opened it knocks on the ceiling, on the walls ; it raps on the table at which 
you innocently seat yourselves to dine or for a game of whist. If you close your ears 
to its sounds, it grows excited, strikes the table, whirls it about in a giddy maze, lifts 
up its feet and proceeds to talk through mediumship, as the dumb talk with their 
fingers. 

" You have all known the rage for table-turning. At one time, we ceased to ask 
after each other's health, but asked how your table was. 'Thank you, mine turns 
beautifully ; and how goes yours on ? ' Everything turned ; hats and the heads in 
them. One was led almost to believe that a circle of passengers being formed round 
the mainmast of a ship of great tonnage, and a magnetic chain thus established, they 
might make the vessel spin round till it disappeared in the depth of the ocean, as a 
gimlet disappears in a deal board. The Church interfered ; it caused its thunders to 
roar, declaring that it was Satan himself who thus raised the devil in the tables, and 
having formerly forbade the world to turn, it now forbade the faithful to turn tables, 
hats, brains, or ships of huge size. But Satan held his own. The sovereign of the 
nether world passed into the new one, and that is the reason that America sends us 
mediums : beginning so gloriously with the famous Home, and ending with the 
brothers Davenport. One remembers with what a frenzy every one precipitated him- 
self in pursuit of mediums. Every one wished to have one of his own ; and when 
you introduced a young man into society, you did not say, ' He is a good waltzer ; ' 
but ' He is a medium.' Official science has killed and buried this Somnambulism a 
score of times ; but it must have done it very badly, for there it is as alive as ever, 
only christened afresh with a new name." 

Amongst the many distinguished adherents of Spiritualism in the depart- 
ment of French Hterature, none have more bravely asserted and defended 
their belief than Camille Flammarion, the celebrated astronomer, Messrs. 
Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Victorien Sardou, the renowned 
writer of French comedy. M. Sardou has been himself a medium of sin- 
gularly happy endowments. Some years ago he executed a number of 
curious drawings, purporting to represent scenes in the spirit world, amongst 
which was an exquisite and complex work of art, entitled " The House of 
Mozart." 

As the author is the fortunate possessor of a fine etching taken from this 
drawing, we may venture to say it is at once a design of singular imagina- 
tion and extraordinary execution. The ^ot(f ensetnble of the sketch suggests 
the face of a highly-ornamented organ, every marking, to the finest hair- 
lines, being made up of musical notes, bars, and staves. The effect of 
the whole is striking, original, and highly suggestive. 

As a writer of comedy, the following tribute, copied from the Cornhill 
Magazine, will give an idea of Sardou's ability, and the mode in which 
his successes have been aided by invisible dramatists : — 

" M. Victorien Sardou is known to many as the drawing medium, through whom 
were produced, many years back, the Maison de Mozart, and several other curious 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 79 

drawings. Since that time he has become, perhaps, the most successful and celebrated 
of modern dramatists in Paris. The court of France is at this moment entertaining 
a distinguished company at Compiegne, where a series of theatrical representations 
are given, and the first play selected, entitled La Familk Benoiton, has been written 
by the hand of Sardou. He has publicly announced that not a line of his comedy is 
the genuine production of his own brain, but, on the contrary, he asserts that it is 
entirely the inspiration of the spirits of departed dramatic celebrities, with whom he 
is in constant communication. If this were not true, why should he deprive himself 
of the honour of being the author of the most successful of modern dramas, as La 
Famille Benoiton has proved to be ? " 

We cannot draw this chapter to a better close than by quoting the noble 
words of M. Jaubert, Vice-President of the Civil Tribunal of Carcassonne, 
in a letter written by him to the editor of La Verite, in reference to some 
scandalous slurs cast upon Spiritualism by the Bishop of Barcelona. The 
letter is dated September, 1864, and reads as follows : — 

" I have lately read the charge of the new Bishop of Barcelona on Spiritualism 
which contains amongst others the following passage : — ' It is thus that we come to create 
a religion which, renewing the wild errors and aberrations of paganism, threatens to conduct 
Society — greedy of marvels — to madness, extravagance, and a filthy obscenity.' 

" If I had the honour of speaking with the Bishop of Barcelona I would say to 
him, ' Monseigneur, permit me to cast a glance backward, perhaps it may carry us a 
step forward. Spiritualism has launched itself into space ; it has passed the sea on a 
ray of light. France has received its cradle. I have had the honour to assist at some 
of its first rockings. I have seen it lisp by aid of that instrument known under the 
name of the table parlante. It has spelt through the planchette; to-day it writes with 
a pen which is at your service and mine. It writes sufficiently well, though it has not 
been spared chastisement ; the child has been mocked, buffeted, covered with mud, 
crowned with thorns. The hatred shown it, has produced a monstrous alhance, such 
an one as history has not recorded the like. The Materialists and the "servants of 
God " are leagued together, the first to disdain or deny it, the second to affirm it, but 
only to spit in its face, and endeavour to strangle it. 

" ' And the child has nevertheless suffered no injury. It plants one foot on each 
world. It embraces in its little arms, France and her colonies ; Belgium, England, 
Russia, Germany, Italy, and even Spain. It has its organs multiplied in Paris, 
Bordeaux, Lyons ; Antwerp, Turin. The domestic hearth serves as a sure and impene- 
trable asylum to myriads of its friends. 

" ' In your turn, Monseigneur, enter the lists against it ; teach all the world that 
Spiritualism is only a resume of filthy obscenity. Ah ! without doubt, the evil is 
immense. Descend with us, Monseigneur, into the reformatories and the prisons. 
The picture of our miseries is vast ; 4,990 accused before our courts of assize ; 
176,456 prisoners judged by our correctional tribunals ; 3,767 suicides, and every year 
the same gulf is opened to receive its fresh prey. Spain undoubtedly, in this point of 
view, has no reason to envy us. Behold the filthy obscenity ! but believe me, 
Monseigneur, the Spiritualists are not there ! 

'' Do you wish to learn the cause of all these evils ? I will tell you. I do not draw 
my proofs from anger nor from vain declamation, I find them in the general account 
of the administration of our criminal justice. Misery, reverse of fortune, loss of 
employ, losses at play, sorrow caused by the ingratitude and misconduct of children, 
adulteries, jealousy, debauch, drunkenness, idleness, disgust of life, immoderate desire 
of riches, political exaltations, love of power, ambition, religious terrors. Do you 
comprehend, Monseigneur ? This leprosy which dooms us. Spiritualism destroys ; it 
does what you have not been able to do. You know very well that Spiritualism is not 
a religion, — it leaves all religions just where they were. The great mission of the 
dead is to prove that they are not dead ; that they live and influence our actions. 
The spirit is certain of its future life ; it expects from the Eternal that justice due to 
all his works ; it combats his enemies not by crushing them but by raising and loving 
them. It does not sacrifice to the kingdom of this world. Anxious to discharge all 
its duties, it gives to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things 
which are God's. It conspires not in the dark, but in full daylight, and for the 
happiness of mankind. 

" ' Reassure yourself, Monseigneur of Barcelona ; reassure your friends in France ! 
In your turn become a Spiritualist ! Affirm to your people that man never dies, that 



8o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

his immortality is proved, not by books, but by material and tangible facts, of which 
everyone can convince himself; that anon, and our houses of correction and our 
prisons will disappear ; suicide will be erased from our mortuary tables, and nobly 
borne, the calamities of earth shall no longer produce madness. But if you prefer it, 
Monseigneur, persist in your insults, strive not to teach as to forget then, the treasures 
of love and charity." ' 



CHAPTER XI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN FRANCE (CONCLUDED). 

The two extraordinary narratives we are now about to present to our 
readers are furnished by A. J. Riko, Esq., of the Hague, and although 
their substance is to be found in several printed records, Mr. Riko's plain 
unvarnished descriptions correspond so closely with the accounts given orally 
to the Author by an eye-witness, that we prefer to transcribe — as far as 
possible — our kind correspondent's own words. The first case is headed : — 

" TAe Phenomena at the Abbey of Prunois-som-Ablis — Arrondisement of 
Rambouillet — France. 

" One of the most interesting records extant on the subject of Spirit power is an 
account of the disturbances which took place at the above-named Roman Catholic Abbey 
in the year 1835. On October 1st at eight o'clock in the, evening, a great many stones 
were thrown at the window of the Presbytery. Several witnesses were present, and 
numbers of others were called by the priest to watch the proceedings. The stones 
were thrown by no visible agency, and struck the window panes in showers, without 
breaking any. 

" October 2nd. A box filled with dirt and refuse, was found in the place usually kept 
for the bread, which was thrown on the ground close by. Stones were thrown aU that day 
at intervals, but though the windows were struck in showers, no glass was broken. 

" October 3rd. At three in the afternoon, all the doors of the Abbey being shut, a 
quantity of ashes — salad plants, spoons, coals, and rotten fruit — fell about the floor and 
furniture of the Presbytery, also in several of the other rooms, every door and window 
being shut. The showers continued falling till ten o'clock, when one of the witnesses, — 
the Cure of Alix, said jokingly, that money would have been more welcome than stones. 
As he spoke, every one in the room was pelted with ' Hards.' 

" October 4th. The fire irons — brought without noise from the Priest's private room — 
were found in a locked chest. Pieces of butter and knives used in the larder, were found 
in another locked chest. As the Abbe was passing out to go to service, a pot full of sand 
was tossed into a pail of water before his eyes. No disturbance took place in the church, 
but when he returned, chalk from the walls and ceiling, coals, ashes, fruit, bread, and all 
sorts of objects were thrown hither and thither through the house, and the stones were 
flung from outside against the windows all day. 

" October 6th. — The bedclothes in the Priest's room, and those of several of the inmates, 
were pierced with round holes, and the pieces taken out were found in distant closed 
rooms. 

" October 7th. — At nine o'clock the servant maid retired to her room, but found 
everything displaced, and the furniture in such disorder that she swooned from fear. 
That night one of the Priest's relatives whom he requested to pass the night in the same 
room with liim, called out in great terror, that his legs were being tied together. When 
the Priest succeeded in getting a hght, he found the young man thrown into a corner, 
with his legs tightly bound together above the knees with a cord nine feet in length. 

"October 14:th. — The cook found pieces of coal, sweepings, dust and filth in every 
article she was using to prepare the meals, in fact she could not put a dish or saucer out 




^ 







WlLLIAM HOWITT 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 8i 

of hei' hand, but what it was instantly but noiselessly filled with rubbish. The same was 
found in all the pots and kettles. Watchers stationed in all directions failed to find any 
visible agent. 

"October 17th. — Stones were thrown in larger numbers and more incessantly than 
ever. Fires were lighted on hearths in empty rooms. The young man before mentioned — 
the priest's relation — had his cap taken from his head and it was afterwards found in a 
chimney in a distant part of the house. 

"October 18. — A violent noise being heard in the Presbytery, the party who rushed 
to the spot found a ball of paper containing a large quantity of gunpowder. The ball 
was tied with a string, and a hole was cut in the wrapping ; close by was a match. Soon 
after this the disturbances increased, and the garden walks were found indented with 
marks of huge claws, not belonging to any known animal. Heavy blows and sounds as of 
tramping feet were now heard during the night in the corridors. As a large number of 
watchers were stationed day and night within and without the Abbey, it soon transpired 
that similar disturbances had occurred several times within the last thirty years, though 
never with such violence as now. 

" October 22nd. — The cook was pelted with stones, coal, &c., wherever she went — 
nothing struck her, though objects fell in showers around her. The Priest, on going to 
bed, found the wood which had been laid in the grate ready for lighting, taken out and all 
arranged on his bed in the form of a cross. In the morning, his clothes were found stufied 
tightly in a large pitcher full of water — and this, though the door was locked inside, and 
the window made fast." 

Mr. Riko follows up this narrative with a long list of witnesses' names, 
many of whom were persons of high respectability, holding official situa- 
tions. It may be added, that in the course of three months, the 
disturbances died out, though no cause could ever be discovered for their 
occurrence. M. Riko's next narrative is the well-known case of the dis- 
turbances at Cideville — Seine Inferieure, France. The author is in 
possession of two French newspapers containing reports of the trial in this 
celebrated case. To save the necessity of a fresh translation, we will 
again resort to M. Riko's concise narrative. He says : — 

"In the spring of the year 1849, the Curate of Cideville having called to see one of 
his parishioners who was sick and confined to his bed, found at the bedside a man who 
had the reputation in the neighbourhood of being a "Sorcerer," and was, besides, a 
fellow of very bad character. As a friend of the Curate's had been attended by him and 
died under his hands — as the neighbours alleged, by evil practices — the Curate di-ove him 
from the house and warned him not to return again. Soon after this "the Sorcerer" 
was arrested for some mal-practice, and thrown into prison. There he uttered fierce 
menaces against the Curate, and swore he would be revenged, ascribing his misfortunes 
wholly to the priest's enmity. Shortly after this, two boys, who were placed with the 
Curate for education, happening to be at an auction, met there Thorel, a shepherd, who 
was a friend, and said to be "a disciple" and follower of the Sorcerer. Thorel had been 
heard to swear he would have revenge for his master's imprisonment. When he met 
the children at the auction, he approached them, and it was affirmed at the trial, laid his 
hands on one of their heads, and muttered words they did not understand. 

" Immediately after their return to the Abbey, violent poundings were heard on the 
walls, floors, ceilings, passages, and in every part of the building. Sometimes these 
blows were so heavy as to make the inhabitants fear the walls would be demolished. 
Numbers of persons passing near the Abbey stopped to inquire what was the matter. 
After these blows had been given for several days, and crowds surrounded the building 
day and night, it was found that the thumpings would keep time to music, and beat 
correctly the measure of any tune asked for. Windows that could not be reached from 
without were smashed, crockery broken, and furniture hurled "hither and thither with 
frightful force. 

" Officers of justice were sent for, and police stationed everywhere. The furniture 
flew around them and piled up into curious forms before their very eyes. Some of the 
heavy furniture seemed to be lifted about as lightly as feathers. Other things were 
broken into the smallest fragments, and no one was hurt except the Mayor of Cideville, 
who on one occasion was struck so heavily on the leg, that he feared the bone was broken. 
As he sat down, he felt a soft hand stroking and patting the affected part, and the pain 
ceased instantly. 
6 



82 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

"Several of the visitors had their dresses pulled, and their arms and faces gently- 
patted. M. de Mirville, who often attended these wUd weird scenes, could hold quite 
intelligent conversations with the invisible knockers, and get them to answer, or to move 
any object he wished. All this was done in the light, and in the presence of crowds of 
witnesses. Meantime the child who had been touched by the shepherd, was always 
complaining of the shadow of a man following him, and several others described a hand 
of a grey colour, which seemed to be busy amongst the moving objects. Very often 
visitors would ask the knockers to spell out their names, ages, and anything they wished 
to say ; and they afterwards testified in court, the intelligence thus rendered was always 
correct. In course of time, wreaths of smoke were seen winding through the rooms, and 
disappearing as suddenly as they came. Footsteps, and the rustling of silk were the next 
sounds heard. One day, the child touched by Thorel screamed out that there v*as a black 
hand coming down the chimney, — no one saw it but the boy, but all in the room heard a 
smart smack, and the child's face remained red for a long time afterwards. Some one 
suggested that pointed irons should be driven into the walls at every place where the 
blows were heard. A large jDarty proceeded to follow this advice. With every blow a 
stab was made. Immediately upon this, flames burst out from every hole, together with 
such thick smoke, that the witnesses were obliged to open doors and windows to get rid 
of it, and desist from all farther attempts of the kind. All the party there assembled 
testified that they distinctly heard the word ' pardon ' cried out in a piteous voice. 

" That night all was quiet. The next day, Thorel came to the door of the Presbytery, 
and asked to see the priest. 

" His behaviour was humble, his words embarrassed ; he tried to hide with his hat 
bleeding wounds in his face. The child saw him and cried, " That is the man who perse- 
cutes me." The priest asked him from whence came the wounds he had in his face. 
Thorel refused to answer, but the priest forced him to fall on his knees and ask pardon, 
which he at length did ; at the same moment he tried to get hold of the child's frock, in 
which he succeeded. The priest made him promise to go to the Mayor, and there Thorel 
in presence of many witnesses fell again on his knees and asked for pardon, trying at the 
same time to touch the priest, who, in order to defend himself, struck the sheiAerd with 
his stick. Thorel on a subsequent occasion confessed that his master the sorcerer was 
the cause of the disturbances at the Abbey, and that he hated the priest because he had 
chased him away from a patient ; but he offered to dehver the Abbey of all further dis- 
turbances if the priest would offer him something. This was refused, and then Thorel 
prosecuted the priest for the strokes he had given him in legitimate self-defence. It was 
on that trial that aU the mysterious phenomena at the Abbey of Cideville became generally 
known, and was commented on in the newspapers of the day. The priest was acquitted 
and Thorel condemned in all the costs. This verdict was given after the learned discourses 
of the well-known advocates Vaquier du Traversain for the priest, and Fontaine for 
Thorel. The latter did not appeal. Several other strange feats performed by Thorel 
were brought to light during the trial. He predicted several things which happened as 
he had announced ; he walked through the field with another witness, and said to him, 
" Every time I shall strike my basket with my fist you will fall," and every time Thorel 
did so, the witness was seized at the throat by an invisible grip, and thrown to the 
ground. Others declared that when passing Thorel on the road, they were persecuted by 
stone throwing, the stones flying towards them from diff'erent directions by invisible 
power, but falling directly before their feet without injuring them. The phenomena 
began on November 26th, 1850, and ended on February 15th, 1851, at which date the 
Bishop ordered the two children to be taken away from the Abbey. In the judicial verdict 
passed against Thorel, the judge in summing up says that ' the, cause of the extraordinary 
facts ivhich occurred at the Abbey of Cideville, as very clearly stated by the testimony of all 
the ivitnesses heard, has remained unknown.' 

" It was very remarkable to note the uniformity with which the witnesses related the 
diff'erent strange phenomena observed by them. Some testified with all the simplicity of 
peasants, others with all the exactness of highly educated people ; but the facts were 
given by all as identical. Though some of the sceptical newspapers declared all the twenty- 
five witnesses to be hallucinated, etc., not one had the courage to indicate them as hars ; 
their good faith was acknowledged by all. 

"The phenomena at the Abbey of Cideville stand as one of the best established 
incidents of the work of an invisible world in our days." 

Narrative translated from the Journal Indre-ei-Loire, dated July 29th, 
1882 :— 

" A shower of stones has fallen at intervals during the past sixty days, upon the farm- 
house of Lioniere, near Montbazon (Indre-et-Loire). This farm-house, situated in an open 
field, is prominent to view, and is approached by two broad thoroughfares, over which 
persons cannot travel without being se^n. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Z^ 

" The stones begin to fall at dusk, and the shower continues until morning. They seem 
to come from all directions, and their collision leaves deep indentations upon the walls 
and doors of the farm-house. No one has ever been wounded by them, however, and the 
intention seems to frighten rather than to seriously injure. 

" The rural guards and the armed police of Montbazon have for many nights watched 
in ambush around the Lioniere without discovering any marauders. The stones fell around 
them in the darkness in their hiding-places. One of the police, who was crouched upon 
the roof of the house, was hit upon the shoulder, though very lightly. Companies have 
been organised, with the assistance of the farm hands and neighbours, to thoroughly beat 
about and search the place. Nearly a hundred persons gathered at the farm and scoured 
it in every direction. Nothing suspicious has been seen. During the going and coming, 
the projectiles have not ceased to whistle by the ears of the investigators. 

" The dwellers at the farmhouse of Fontaines, commune of Rouziers, have been awakened 
almost every night by singular and varied noises. Sometimes it is like the noise of a 
heavily-laden wagon. The jolting of the wheels in the ruts of the road, the clash of the 
iron tires against the stony obstructions are heard, as also the prolonged cracking of the 
whip. The walls of the house tremble as by the passing of some heavy vehicle. 

" Sometimes dancing music is heard — sound of a violin accompanied with stamping, like 
the noise made by iron-nailed boots striking against the floor in beating-time. Again a 
noise is heard in the well, hke the fall of some heavy body, that on striking the surface of 
the water chops and spatters it about with a splashing sound, but no one has ever been 
able to discover the cause of these noises. In vain have the fai'm people, reinforced by 
their neighbours, placed themselves upon the watch at night — in vain have they used 
every strategy they can invent ; they are still ignorant of the cause of their annoyance, 
The manager, M. Ronnin, who has been but a short time in this part of the country 
assures us that he used to hear the same noises and sounds in Vendee." 

" An extraordinary medium has been found at Agen. She is quite young — is a Mdlle. 
Honorine — and when the spiritualistic phenomena occur through her, her liands are tied, 
together with a handkerchief and she is placed upon a bed. Cards are placed under her 
pillow, or are pinned to the bed-curtains, and mental questions are asked, with the desire 
that the answer shall appear on said cards ; and there indeed the correct answer is found. 
The ' Marseillaise ' is then drummed out, the ' Dame Angot,' the ' Chant clu Depart,' the 
^Retreat' — in fact, anything called for. The sound of the horses' feet as the cavalry 
retreat, is perfectly represented. Musical instruments are played upon and carried about 
the room. An officer of the army placed a ribbon under the pillow, and invisible fingers 
tied a knot in it. Money laid outside of a closed tobacco-box was found within it. The 
bed was drawn across the room, or, as the child-medium said, ' ^as, pushed.' The direct 
writing obtained, manifested familiarity with the pen, whereas Honorine can scarcely write 
or read." — Revue Spirite, December, 1881. 

" The Revue Spirite has from time to time made mention of a young girl residing 
at Saint Marie-de-Campan, in the province of Bagneres-de-Bigorre, among the Pyrenees 
mountains, under whose mediumship wonderful phenomena have taken place, and which 
have attracted the attention of the French secular press generally." 

M. Aviragnet, writing to the Editor of the Revue Spirite, says : — 

"On the 21st of January, 1882, the young gu-1 from Ste Marie-de-Campan, Marie 
Alexandrine Torne, of whom we have spoken, and who has created a sensation in all this 
Department, came to me and is with me still. She reads a book without looking at it ; 
she plays dominoes with her eyes closed. I had hardly formed an idea of tying her hands 
behind her back than they were tied and untied by invisible hands. I desked to have 
something brought to me, and yesterday evening I was presented with a flower that does 
not grow in our gardens. They (the spirits) have manufactured for me a .flower of a 
beautifiil red colour, and to-day after dinner, the young girl came to my bedside with a 
flower in her hand, which immediately disappeared." 

It must be stated that M. Aviragnet was a chronic invaUd and had been 
confined to a bed of sickness for a long time. The general impression of 
tliis excellent gentleman's friends was, that the medium — quite a young 
child — who came of her own accord to the house, was sent to redeem a 
promise of M. Aviragnet's spirit guides that they would cure him. M. 
Aviragnet continues his narrative as follows : — 

" Marie Alexandrine returned to her home shortly after the phenomena that I have 
detailed to you. At the end of some six days, having received the order to come to me 



84 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

again for an urgent necessity, she set out before day, quite uneasy, fearing to be too late 
for the operation, which consisted in removing other parasites from my ear. On Sunday 
morning she came to my bed, and a hand was formed in her presence. She made passes 
over my heart, and infused a mild fluid into my ear and over my eyes. ... On Monday 
the medium was forbidden to eat anything. She was ordered to fast for three days and 
two nights, and she gave herself up to prayer. I was told not to be uneasy, that the child 
would be in no danger ; that the angels would sustain her. I would fain have shared 
tha sufferings of the child, but lovid knocks upon the table made by the friends said ' No.' " 
" On Tuesday evening at seven o'clock the child was permitted to take refreshment. 
Vaporous forms became manifest all around her. These forms approached me, took me 
by the hand, patted my face and my breast." 

Without following out M. Aviragnet's diary any farther, it is enough to 
say he was raised from the sick bed he had so long and hopelessly occupied, 
and testified before a number of officials in his district that without the aid 
of medicines, or any other means than the presence of this extraordinary 
medium and her attendant spirits, he was entirely restored to health. In 
the issue of Za Revue Spirite, of December, 1880, is the following ; — 

"A new writing medium has appeared in France, in the Gironde, who attracts no 
little attention from the fact that, of himself, he knows nothing about the art of penman- 
ship. Our friend and brother in the faith does not know how to write, and in opposition 
to his parents in 1867 he was incited to write mediumistically through the spirits 
two letters which contain forty-eight lines, have many antique words, and combination 
of words that must awaken interest, while their sentiments are lofty and impressive. It 
seems also that he now speaks as if learned, and has the gift of healing." 

" A new i-apping medium has also been discovered in the village of Chauvirey, Cote 
d'Or — a little girl about thirteen years of age. The noise begins when she retires to bed ; 
sometimes it is like a scratching with the finger naUs ; then it increases in volume till it 
resembles the sound of revolving mill-wheels. The clergy and gendarmes have, as usual, 
been called in, but cannot account for the phenomenon — which continues when the feet 
and hands of the girl are held fast, and which has now for about two months and a half 
defied the scrutiny of all her visitors." 

In the same journal, of date 1877, we find a large number of cases 
describing various kinds of phenomenal mediumship. Amongst them the 
following : — 

" The spirits of the people of the ' barricades ' seem not to forget in the spirit world 
those exciting scenes by which, some of them at least, passed beyond the confines of our 
sphere ; indeed it is in France, above all other coimtries with which we are acquainted, 
stone-throwing by the invisibles is most common. Some years ago in Paris, near the 
Pantheon, as reported by the police, a house was pelted with stones, some of which were 
so large that the doors and windows, secured by heavy timbers, were demolished. The 
missiles descended with mathematical precision, but whence could not be discovered by 
the police, though stationed on housetops in the immediate neighbourhood. Quite a 
number of like cases I have since recorded. Now, M. Par jade writes that at Omet 
(Haute Garonne), at the house of M. Vimeney, the same phenomena have been taking 
place ; the furniture, crockery, cooking utensils were tumbled into confusion, whUe 
stones flew in every direction. ' These facts,' says the writer, ' have excited all the 
inhabitants of the canton, but no one but the Spiritualists could discover the cause ; they 
are identical with those of Tabanac in the year 1872.' 

" ' The Spiritualists of this region,' he continues, ' evoked the spirits and reasoned with 
them ; the daughter of M. Vimeney was restored to health, and the phenomena dis- 
appeared. ' 

" In confirmation of the above, Mons. Vimeney wrote himself to the editor of the Revue, 
and says : ' By our appeal and by prayer, these spirits came to us and promised to listen 
to our counsel ; my daughter has become perfectly well, and the disturbances have ceased 
completely.' The letter is signed by sixteen witnesses." 

The Revue of October, 1880, gives an interesting account of still another 
physical medium, quite celebrated in the Spiritualist circles of Paris, but 
Icnown only under the sobriquet of Amelie. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 85 

The phenomena obtained in the presence of this young girl are very 
varied. The following is a brief narrative of one seance detailed by Dr. G. 
L. Ditson, the foreign correspondent of the American Banner of Light. 
This gentleman says : — 

" In June, 1875, at a stance, the spii'its caused the musical box to play, stopping and 
starting it at will. When visiting a Mme. X., a letter which should have been sent to 
Lim some time previous, but had been lying in a receptacle with many others, was brought 
by the invisibles and placed in his hands 

"One evening," he says, "Amelie's hands were drawn behind her and fastened very 
firmly with a cord, whose ends were carried down and ' fixed solidly ' to the leg of her 
chair. The spirits also essayed a duo on the harmonica and tambour, and themselves gave 
the signal for applause produced seemingly by the hands of little children. The fol- 
lowing was given by direct writing : ' We love these stances, and will do our best to 
materialize.' In the next month flowers were broiight by the spirits — xme masse des 2^etites 
plantes— blue flowers, moist, with fresh earth. Their name however had been forgotten. 
Amelie took a pencil and wrote : ' Forget me not.' " 

Dr. Ditson adds the two following narratives, translated from the Revue 
Spirite of the same date as above : — 

"Of Mme. Sardou' in lethargic sleep and her voyage in space I must quote a little. 
Mme. S., sixty-two years of age, made the following statement to the narrator : — 

" ' About twelve years since I was in the hospital at Lyons, and died, to all appearances, 
and so remained for twenty -four hours. I had no consciousness of what was passing 
around me. During this time I went up, up, till the earth appeared blue, like the 
heavens, and then was out of sight. On I went. Finally I arrived in front of a magnificent 
chapel, gleaming with indescribable beauty, and in which there was a light of surpassing 
brilliancy. Attempting to enter, I was warned that I was not yet pure enough ; that I 
had to return to the earth and suffer much, and then I should be admitted to this 
I^aradise. I then went on without knowing what impelled me, till I looked upon a vast, 
arid, boundless field. There I saw a prodigious quantity of persons all bent towards the 
ground, which they were scratching vigorously with their two hands, as a dog scratches 
with his paws. I saw here priests of all ranks ; people well and ill-dressed. I was 
astonished. Looking on one side I saw une dame blonde ; it was a very beautiful woman. 
There is none upon earth like her. She did not speak to me, so I said : ' Madame, what is 
this, all this multitude?' 'My child,' she replied, 'this is Purgatory.' 'Where then is 
heU ? ' I asked. ' There is none,' was the reply ; ' it is here that penitence is made. See, 
my child, these had upon the earth all they needed, but were never satisfied, wanting always 
more, and never doing any good to their fellows. Look yonder,' she said, extending her 
arm, ' see those down there, down there afar off ; it is two thousand years they are there, 
two thousand years ! ' When some dissent was expressed to Mme. Sardou respecting her 
vision, she replied with much vivacity, ' Oh ! hut I saw it ! ' (She had once before made 
a like asservation when some doubt had been expressed.) 

" These earnest replies," continues the writer, " prove abundantly the sincerity of her 
recital. When the spirit of Mme. Sardou returned to her body and awoke it, she found 
her friends were about enwrapping it for its final disposition. She screamed and drew 
many persons about her bed. To these she related her voyage and experience, and she was 
assured that she had seen the Virgin Mary. She suffers, as was predicted by the angel ; 
and, not unmindful of her vision, she says sadly, when she sees a person in affluence with- 
holding a farthing from the needy, 'See still another who is going to scratch the 
earth.' .... 

" Suffice it to say, the woman was persecuted for her faith, and even threatened by the 
clergy ; and her house, No. 54, Rue de la Heine, was named the ' Folle Bretonne.' " 

Within the last two or three years a young person who will quite compare 
with any of the most powerful physical mediums of America or London, 
has come prominently before the Spiritual investigators of Paris, by name 
" Madame Babelin." From a large number of reports of seances with this 
medium, we select the account given by Dr. G. L. Ditson, who writes as 
follows to the Banner of Lights of October, 1882 : — 

" Last week, at a Mme. BabeKn's, where I was introduced by the courtesy of Mme. 
Leymarie, I was very satisfactorily entertained. About fifteen of us, joining hands, 



86 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

encircled Mme. B., the medium, who, at her own request, was tied to her chair, ' Universal 
scepticism,' she said, 'requiring it.' The medium's hands were intricately bound, and as 
intricately secured to the chair, the ends of the cord being taken by one of the circle, 
which formed itself around the table, the medium sitting near it. On the table were two 
musical boxes, three fans, a hand-bell, a child's whistle, a toy barking-dog, and a box of 
lozenges. On taking seats the candle was extinguished, the circle interlinked little fingers 
and sang. After a little, there were vai-ious manifestations, more than one always occuri-ing 
at the same time ; detonations in, on, or under the table ; overhead were heard, moving 
hither and thither, the musical boxes, the bell, whistle, and barking toy, all in rhythm ; 
the air was kept in motion by the fans, which were also rubbed against our heads ; our 
faces, shoulders, and hands were patted with soft warm hands. 

" Each one was also favoured with a large bunch of wild flowers. A bunch of them 
was forcibly arranged beneath my vest, and later some were put between my neck and 
collar. Phosphoric lights were then seen floating about, coming sometimes, as it were, 
from under the table and going into the laps of diiSferent parties. There was also 
seemingly an attempt to iUumine a figure that stood close to me — at least, some drab 
drapery was near me, enveloping apparently a human form. This efl"ort was unsuccessful. 
A small part of a human figure was however, quite well developed, and there was a per- 
sistence in showing me this. At first I thought that only a simple ball of phosphoric 
light was before me, but as its action was peculiar, I regarded it attentively, and saw 
unmistakable fingers of two hands that were manipulating the phosphoric ball, taking 
light from it to show themselves. When I expressed aloud to my neighbour the fact, the 
two hands separated, one going to the right of the circle, the other to the left — an 
unmistakable proof that they pertained to no human being. In response to a mental 
request, some fingers pressed my forehead, and on asking the question mentally, if a 
loved deceased cousin were present, my cheek was several times smoothed as if by the 
gentle hand of aSection. 

"At a sitting last evening, at Mme. Huet's, where I had been presented by M. Lacroix, 
we had the levitation of a heavy table, and those unmistakable raps which are so very 
characteristic of the Fox sisters' circles. 

"At a seance at Mme. Chavee's we were also, through raps, favoured with several 
interesting messages from the ' promised land.' Though a stranger to almost every one 
present, I received, in English, the first communication. My brother, who died in Natchez 
in 1833, not only spelled out his entire name, but expressed ys relationship to and super- 
vision of my son, in such terms as to make it a moral certainty that no other than my 
brother William was actually giving the welcome sentences that at this moment so unex- 
pectedly were being recorded by one (a French lady) who knew nothing of the meanuig 
of the words she penned. 

" Paris, France, Oct. 6th, 1882. G. L. Ditson." 

Dr. Ditson subsequently adds the following translation from the Revue 

Spirite : — 

" Dr. Chazarain resolved, in order to add to the weight of his testimony, to hold his 
future seances at his own home, with his family and friends, Madame Babelin still being 
the medium. 

"At his first home seance, fourteen in the circle, on the light being extinguished the 
medium described, in mmute detail, the appearance of a spirit, whose wife and daughter 
were present ; he had also been weU known to Dr. Chazarain. 

" ' The medium,' says he, ' passed then into the trance ; after some rapping sounds, 
hands touched and pressed us all, the objects placed upon the table floated over our 
heads, the musical instruments sounding ; fresh flowers were laid upon our hands. There 
were no flowers in the house before the seance. Then phosphorescent hands gradually 
developed themselves as I previously described. The form of a child was then seen upon 
the table, visible by its own light. It moved about, kissed its hands to us all ; we heard 
the kisses; and as the fingers left contact with the lips they emitted a soft light and 
whitish vapour. The child disappeared and reappeared three times, but was visible 
altogether for about ten minutes. When I afterwards showed the photograph of my httle 
Marie all recognised it as that of the cluld-spirit. 

Then by my side, appeared the well-defined face of my mother, deceased at seventy- 
five. 

" ' I felt then a large hand laid upon my head ; in reply to the question, mentally put. 
Are you he of whom I am thinking ? the hand gave three taps. My thoughts were of 
my deceased brother, Then came sounds of the pencil ; these ceasing, we lighted up and 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 87 

foimd a little writing on two pieces of paper ; on one, " My beloved sisters, I am with you 
and shall be your guardian. — Marie." On the other, " Seek not thy brother on earth ; he 
is in God's immensity. I am happy to be able to be with you. — Paul." This was the 
naine of my brother. He was in the Army of Reserve in 1870. After the battle of 
Chateauneuf no news ever came from him ; his name was neither in the returns of killed 
nor of prisoners. A spontaneous communication had been received by me through another 
medium, to the effect that he had been killed for plunder by some dissolute men of his 
company. I had thereupon written to the authorities to know how I might direct 
inquiries among the men of his company at that period. As if in reference to my letter 
came another scrap of paper, " No vengeance, expiation." I received this as a lesson on 
which I pondered.' " 

In an article written for a scientific paper of Paris, by M. Chas. Hue, 
editor of the journal — Prosperite Agricole et Commerciale — there is a long 
account of a mediumistic couple who have lately excited much interest in 
Parisian circles. M. and Mdme. d'Alesi are the parties alluded to, and 
M. Hue says, writing of the husband : — 

"The medium is a young Hungarian of brUliant education, but who, through many 
misfortunes, has been reduced to poverty. His young and estimable wife shares with 
him heroically his ill-starred existence, and when under magnetic influence, proves to be 
also a clairvoyant, able to see and describe spirits and give good medical advice. M. Hugo 
d'Alesi sits at a table in a room so dark that it is almost impossible to see the figure he 
is sketching. He seems to pay but little attention to what he is doing, executing rapidly, 
and in the space of a few minutes accomplishes a remarkable work — the head of a woman, 
for instance — wonderful in respect to finesse d'execution. He has thus in pastel produced 
a striking likeness of Pius IX., and in aquarelle a magnificent landscape. The latter 
bore the signature of Diaz, a fine artist, who passed away about a year since. Most of 
M. d'Alesi's productions bear the initials T. D., which, on account of the general style, are 
attributable to Donato, who contributed in his day largely to the resurrection of 
sculpture in Italy." 

It was in the summer of 1882, that the author, then a guest of Madame 
La Duchesse de Pomar (Countess of Caithness), at Paris, had the 
pleasure of witnessing M. d'Alesi's remarkable mediumship as an instru- 
ment for artistic spirits. The seance was given in a brilliantly lighted 
library, in presence of about half a dozen persons, including the Due 
and Duchesse de Pomar, the author, Dr. Britten, Madame and Mdlle. 
Leymarie. M. d'Alesi occupied about ten minutes in sketching a large 
crayon drawing. During the performance he was engaged in lively 
conversation with the company who stood around him, and the author 
and her friends can all testify that he scarcely ever glanced at his drawing, 
his hands appearing to move with lightning speed and occasionally with 
some violent, though unknown impulse, without any apparent volition of 
his own. When the drawing was finished, M. d'Alesi gracefully presented 
it to the noble mistress of the mansion, the Duchesse de Pomar. On first 
regarding this sketch, nothing was discoverable but a mass of uncouth 
crayon scratches without apparently a vestige of design. On placing the 
paper against a distant wall, the rude scratches resolved themselves into a 
fine and spirited likeness of the beautiful Marie Stuart, whom the Duchesse 
de Pomar not only resembles strikingly in person, but who has been 
reported through numerous sources to be the "guardian angel" of the 
Duchesse. This lady had, during the day, expressed to the author her 
earnest wish that the gracious Scottish Queen would favour her with her 
likeness through the artistic medium who was that evening expected ; but 
this wish was entirely unknown to M. d'Alesi, neither could he have had 
the slightest idea of the spiritual relations existing between the Duchesse 
and her much-loved spirit guide. 



88 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

During a recent visit to Paris, the author had the privilege of inspecting 
the fine collection of spirit drawings, and the splendid library, possessed 
by the "Psychological Society of Paris," and arranged at their rooms by 
M. and Madame Leymarie, with the taste and elegance peculiar to the 
French character. Many of the drawings are as wonderful for their 
artistic excellence as for their occult mode of production. Amongst these 
are the drawings of M. d'Alesi, and those of M. Fabre, formerly a black- 
smith, who, with a marvellous gift for spiritual art, and a romantic history 
too long to cite in this place, has produced, amongst other marvels of 
spirit influence, a splendid copy of Raphael's famous Bataille de Cofistantifi, 
the original of which is now in the Vatican. When it is remembered that 
the Medium, " Fabre," was an uneducated blacksmith, who, by no possi- 
bility could ever have seen Raphael's magnificent picture, and that the 
work executed by this man is an almost faultless copy of the grand original, 
something of its real merit may be conceived. The author has only to 
add, that, through the courtesy of M. Leymarie, one of M. d'Alesi's 
wonderful crayon sketches, and a fine photograph of Fabre's Bataille de 
Constajitin, now grace the walls of the study where these lines are being 
penned. 

The mention of M. Leymarie's name, calls for some notice of the 
invaluable services rendered to the cause of Spiritual progress in France by 
that gentleman and his noble wife. Although the author by no means 
sympathises with the teachings of Allan Kardec on the subject of Re- 
incarnation, no candid mind can deny the vast ability displayed by that 
eminent man, nor the wide-spread influence which his writings have 
diffused over the Continent of Europe. 

The Society founded by M. Kardec, and the paper which he so ably 
conducted, entitled La Revue Spirite, are now in charge of M. Leymarie, 
and it must be owned, that the followers of Allan Kardec have been fortu- 
nate in securing such a successor to their great leader in his immense 
work. M. Leymarie is a man of the most undoubted probity and sincerity. 
Pure minded, unselfish, wholly devoted to his work of propagandism and 
the best interests of what he believes to be right, a nobler or more self- 
sacrificing evangelist, does not live than M. Leymarie, and even the most 
determined opponents of his behef, among whom the author is one, find 
their hands stayed, when they would raise them to strike a blow at what 
they deem to be a stupendous fallacy for fear of wounding the admirable 
spirit of the Re-incarnationist leader M. Leymarie. It is wortliy of note 
that this noble gentleman has himself been called upon to suffer martyrdom 
in the trial for fraud, in producing spirit photographs, by a certain pair of 
conspirators, one of whom claimed to be a medium for spirit photography. 
Writing on the subiect of his trial before its conclusion, the Hon. J. L. L. 
O'Sullivan, formerly U. S. Consul at Madrid, who was in Paris at the time, 
and warmly interested in Mons. Leymarie, gives the following version of 
the case to the London Spiritualist : — 

" My previous letters will have prepared your readers for a very mockery of justice in 
the trial of our friend Leymarie before the Seventh Chamber of Correctional Police, but 
not for the length to which it has been carried. Leymarie, that devoted and conscientious 
Spiritualist, successor of Allan Kardec as editor of La Revue Spirite, and managing 
director of the Societe cles Sinrites, has been sentenced to a year's imprisonment. Leymarie's 
crime is the prominence of his position in Spiritualism, his zeal, activity, and the useful- 
ness of his labours, to the cause to which his soul is devoted. Happily, imprisonment for 
opinion and its propagation is too common in France, and has been the penalty paid by 
too many honourable men for the social crime of having a conscience and a fearless spirit, 
to involve any real disgrace, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 89 

" Lachaud's speech in his defence was one of the most brilliant and convincing efforts 
of forensic pleading I have ever listened to. His thesis was simple. Leymarie was a 
sincere zealot, deceived by Buguet, and honestly parading in his Review, as proofs of his 
doctrine and cause, the spirit photographs produced in hundreds of which the resemblance 
was recognised and attested by the sitters. He had no complicity with Buguet, and it is 
impossible to condemn him on the authority of such a manifest liar saying that he had. 
This, I repeat, was a simple thing, and it was developed in a most masterly manner by 
Lachaud. He exhibited the man living an honest and honourable life, labouring from 
rise of sun till the hours of sleep, on a mere pittance of income ; blameless in all 
domestic relations as husband and father, working off a balance of debt resting on him 
from an old failure in business which had grown solely out of a too confiding character, 
and having, with aid from his family, nearly accomplished it, and allowing himself no 
personal indulgence till he should have fully done so. He then showed how he had not 
accepted Buguet's spirit photographs until he had put them and him through a series of 
test investigations with the aid of persons the most competent to detect fraud or error. 
He referred to the hundreds of letters of attestation of resemblances from sovereign 
princes down to the humbler strata of society, all of which continued to confirm Leymarie 
in his sincere conviction of the genuineness of Buguet's pictures. And finally he pro- 
duced a series of letters from Buguet himself the very day before his arrest, on the 
face of which stood manifest, as though in large print, Leymarie's perfect good faith 
and total absence of any sort of complicity in deception. And yet with all this, Leymarie 
is sentenced for swindling, to the penalty of a year's imprisonment ! It is enough to 
take one's breath away in the telling of it. I have never known anything more monstrous 
in the worst courts of injustice." 

[The prosecution was initiated by the police, and none of Buguet's customers or dupes 
appeared in support of it. M. Leymarie had recently written some severe criticisms on the 
Archbishop of Toulouse, and many think this had something to do with his persecution. 
The general opinion amongst Spirituahsts is, that some of the earlier photographs pro- 
duced by Buguet were genuine, but a desire to make money prompted him to commence 
the manufacture of fictitious ones. — Ed. Spiritualist^ 

Our review of French Spiritualism must end here. Mediums still 
continue to arise, and in accordance with the spirit of European conserva- 
tism thousands of eminent persons become indoctrinated with the truths 
of Spiritualism, who still shrink from giving their testimony to the world. 

La Revue Spirife, like the American Banner of Light and Religio 
Philosophical Journal, holds its own against all comers, and many another 
journal appears and disappears on the hemisphere of public opinion, when 
its work is demanded and its mission is fulfilled. There are at this present 
time of writing, about ten Spiritual journals published in the French 
language, but there are many more that have been the useful and influen- 
tial ephemera of the hour. It seems certain that M. Leymarie's paper, 
La Revue Spirite, will never go out in darkness, however much it may be 
eclipsed by circumstances and the force of public opinion, so long as its 
noble and self-sacrificing editor remains on earth to print and distribute it. 

The waves of human thought on the subject of Spiritualism continue to 
rise and fall, as it is the nature of elastic fluids to do ; but no ebb has yet 
set in from the shores of earth, and when it does, all things seem to 
predicate that it will only return with additional force, to ebb and flow 
between the coast lines of mortality and immortality, till time shall be no 
more. 

It may be asked why in this review of French Spiritualism we have 
omitted to notice the illustrious name of EHphas Levi {the Abbe Constant) 
and his magnificent contributions to the realm of occult literature such as 
the great work on Haul Magique, &c., &c. The attempts which have 
lately been made by many writers of eminence to draw sharp and even 
impassable lines of demarcation between the facts and teachings growing 
out of spirit communion, and the theories put forth in the name of " occul- 
tism " render it impossible for the author to combine the two subjects in 
this work. 



90 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Through teachings received also from individuals, who of all others, 
merited the name of occult adepts, the author has been led to consider 
that Occultism is in theory the revealment of that which was hidden, or the 
occult powers and potencies in the animate and inanimate realms of being ; 
whilst Spiritualism is the demonstration of the same occult forces mani- 
fested from a super-mundane state of existence. The modern writers who 
have assumed for themselves the name of " Occultists," are not contented 
with this position. 

Their interpretation of what and who "Spirits" are, and what is the 
work which this volume has been written to record, will be briefly 
described in our section on India ; it must suffice for the present to say, 
that the author's definitions would appear in connection with the theories 
of " the Occultists," as worthless and shadowy as the spirits of whom we 
write appear, in comparison with the inconceivably high presences, or 
" 144th embodiments" of exalted "egos," of whom the "Occultists" write. 
Eliphas Levi, without soaring into the extraordinary flights of revelation 
assumed to be authoritative by these same modern " Occultists " still 
occupies ground that takes no direct part with the spontaneous develop- 
ments of spirit power manifested in the modern outpouring, nor yet with 
the simple formulas of the spirit circle. 

The day will come when true Occultism and "common place Spiritual- 
ism," will be recognized as being built upon earth and founded in man 
himself; leading to heaven, and culminating in the personaHty of angels. 

In that day. when theories shall be scientifically formulated from facts, 
and facts will not be scornfully derided to suit theories, Eliphas Levi and 
many another profound writer, whose words are now "Kabbala" to the 
multitude, will be recognized as the prophets of the grand Spiritual science 
of the future. Till then, it would be unphilosophical to give " that which 
is holy to the dogs." 



CHAPTER XII. 



SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN. 

One of the chief difficulties which besets a writer who would attempt to 
give a faithful account of the Spiritual movement in Great Britain, is the 
very "embarrassment of riches" with which the subject is loaded, 
Spiritualistic experiences having become so universal that the author's 
requisition for evidence is met by an influx of responses which make the 
task of selection too herculean for the purposes of this volume. Still 
another subject of perplexity arises from the characteristic reserve of those 
with whom the phenomena of SpirituaHsm are very generally associated in 
this country. 

In America, where the sources of popular power are derived from the 
people, SpirituaHsm may be found more generally represented by the rank 
and file of Society, than among the wealthier classes. 



J,^ 




The Countess of Caithness 
duchesse de pomar . 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 91 

In Europe on the contrary, where the governing power centres in an 
hereditary and influential aristocracy, the people derive their opinions as 
they do their laws and fashions, from the ruling classes, and it is chiefly 
amongst these that Spirituahsm flourishes. 

It is not claimed that this wonderful movement is confined to any class 
in either hemisphere. It will be found in the hut, and the palace ; in the 
mining camp, and the halls of legislation. Nevertheless its greatest 
prevalence is ever with the ruling power. Since then Spiritualism in 
Europe takes the deepest hold of those whose rank and station induces 
them to shrink from subjecting their personal experiences to pubHc 
criticism, the author too frequently becomes the recipient of valuable 
testimony which cannot be made available, because the communicants 
insist on withholding their true names and addresses. " Miss E." and 
" Mrs. D. ; " " Captain A." and " My Lord X. Y. Z." are impersonals, 
whom no one puts any confidence in. There is no satisfaction in offering 
such shadowy testimony to those who are asked to believe in occurrences 
of an unprecedented and often startling character. Resolving as we have 
done, not to demand credence for phenomenal incidents upon any 
testimony open to the charge of unreliability, we feel obliged to relegate an 
immense mass of interesting matter of this kind to the obscurity which 
unauthorised statements justly incur. 

It would seem as if the Spiritual founders of the great outpouring had 
been experimenting with the forces at their command, and seeking to open 
up communion with the two worlds in many places, before they succeeded 
in systematizing the direct telegraphy which has marked the American 
phase of the movement. 

Those who have perused the author's work entitled, " Modern American 
Spiritualism," will remember that a statement to this effect was made 
through the lips of an entranced subject magnetized by Dr. Hallock, of 
New York. If this hypothesis is admitted, it would account for the great 
prevalence of Spiritual phenomena which has marked this century in many 
parts of the world, prior to the disturbances in America known as " The 
Rochester Knockings." Thus it seems that Scientific Spirits, desirous of 
founding a Spiritual telegraph between the mortal and immortal realms of 
being, were instrumental in promoting the phenomena which occurred 
at Epworth Parsonage, in the family of John Wesley, and influencing 
Mesmer and his followers in the discovery of the life principle of 
magnetism. 

The wonderful " preaching epidemic in Sweden ; " the obsessions in 
Morzine; the uprising of Mormonism, Shakerism, the gift of tongues 
amongst the Irvingites, and the great revivals in Ireland, are all unmistakable 
fruits of the same mighty contagion of Spiritual forces, surging through an 
age specially prepared for their reception. 

Let any candid student of Pneumatology peruse with attention the array 
of facts collected by Kerner in Germany, Cahagnet in France, and Mrs. 
Catherine Crowe in her English work, "The Night Side of Nature." Let 
him remember that these eminent writers contributed their vast mass of 
Spiritualistic testimony in advance of the " Rochester Knockings," and it 
will be impossible to evade the conclusion, that the widely separated lines 
of evidence all diverge from one powerful spiritual centre. Commending to 
our readers' attention Howitt's exhaustive " History of the Supernatural," 
the writings of R. D. Owen, Thomas Brevior, Kerner, Ennemoser, and Mrs. 
Catherine Crowe, for a wealth of detail not attainable in this work, we shall 



92 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

now lay before our readers some of those striking spiritual way marks 
which antedate the introduction of the modern spiritual telegraph in 
England. 

The first representative case of spontaneous spiritual manifestations we 
select, occurred in the village of Sandford near Tiverton in Devonshire, 
about the year 1812. Quoting from an account published by the author 
some years ago, the particulars of which were derived partly from the 
newspaper reports of the time, but chiefly from the testimony of Mrs. 
Floyd — the author's venerable mother who was an eye witness of the scenes 
described, we call attention to the following details which we give in the 
language before published. 

"It was about the year 1812 when my mother, then a young single lady, went with 
her parents to visit friends at the town of Tiverton, Devonshire. 

" It was summer time, and during her first evening's residence she remarked, with 
surprise, the throng of private carriages which aU seemed to be passing one way, and 
coming forth at one special time. Upon inquiry she learned that the object of this 
remarkable exodus was to proceed to a village some four or five miles distant, where a 
number of clergymen — of whom there were many residing in the town — together with the 
mayor and the principal physician of the place (both personal friends of my mother's 
f amUy) were going to ' lay the ghost ' which had, for a long time, haunted a certain old- 
fashioned residence in the village of Sandford . The ' trouble ' which attached itself to 
this house, consisted in unaccountable noises, the ringing of bells, pattering of footsteps, 
lights proceeding from no human source, and other forms of preternatural disturbance. 

" The house had been occupied for many years past by diflerent tenants, none of whom 
had been able long to endure the terrors of their weird surroundings. Every effort made 
by the owner of the property to detect a mundane source for these annoyances had proved 
unavailing. At the period when my mother visited the neighbourhood, the house was 
tenanted by a family who had been induced to occupy it rent free, and who devoted the 
lower part to the business of a general shop. 

" The presence of this family, however, seemed to have no effect, for the disturbances 
were as constant as ever. Even in open day passers-by could 'hear the knocking resound- 
ing ' like the tap of a shoemaker's hammer.' After nightfall the timid inhabitants of the 
vUlage carefully avoided even the precincts of the place, whilst doctors, divines, politi- 
cians, and officers from the neighbouring garrison, assembled nightly to hold colloquies 
with the invisible tormentors. 

" It seems that the order of these midnight conclaves was as follows. A large wooden 
table was placed in the centre of the room wliich the ghosts most commonly affected. 
Round this the assembled company would seat themselves, and question the rapper in 
much the same manner as we adopt in our modern investigations. 

" For example : Several coins would be placed upon the table, and their number be 
indicated, wpon demand, and alivays correctly, by knocks. At times the number of persons 
present, even their ages and professions, would be correctly told by signal raps. Had the 
sitters of seventy years ago been instructed how to anticipate the formula of the modern 
spu-it circle, they could not have depicted its modus operandi more faithfully. Through 
the medium of certain signal raps, the sitters were always informed that the knocker was 
a spirit, a female, and one who had terminated an evil career by a violent death. 

" Now although the united wisdom of a neighbourhood famous for its learning and 
piety pronounced through the press the solemn verdict, that ' a tremendous imposture 
existed someivhere,' yet for ten years, during which the house perpetually changed 
inhabitants, and was the subject of unceasing examination, the said ' imposture ' was never 
brought to hght, nor could any mundane origin for the mysterious disturbance be 
detected. 

"The mixture of ignorance and conservatism which prevailed amongst those who 
investigated this subject may be judged of from the following circumstances. 

" Mr. Colton, a clergyman well known in the literary world as the author of ' Lacon ' 
and other metaphysical works, had been a constant attendant upon the ghostly seances, 
and finally gave it as his opinion ' that the affau" could never be cleared up on mundane 
grounds.' No sooner was this statement circulated, than the journals of the day inferred, 
that Mr. Colton must know something more of the causes than he chose to tell ; in fact, who 
hiew hut luhat the ivhole thing might have proceeded from him, as a clever ventriloquist ? Not 
until Mr. Colton's departure for a foreign land, and the continuance of the hauntings, 
was the theory abandoned, that he, who dared to hint at a super-mundane origin of the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 93 

mystery must himself be its source. Again, the magnates of Tiverton pitched upon a 
poor soldier of somewhat questionable character, who had returned from the war and was 
glad to share with his parents, the shelter of a place obtainable rent free, as the cause of 
the trouble. These wiseacres forgot that the disturbances had preceded the soldier's 
presence for two years ; however, in order to test the validity of their theory, they spirited 
him out of the village, and shipped him to a foreign land. But all was in vain. Neither 
the absence of the learned scholar nor the ignorant soldier affected the Sandford invisibles 
except — as if in mockery — to increase the force of their harassing demonstrations. 

"The tenants who had been found bold enough to occupy the haunted mansion at the 
period when my mother's family came to visit Tiverton, were a poor shopkeeper with his 
wife and several children. 

" Amongst the latter, a little girl of about ten years of age seemed to be the special 
theme of the ghost's malevolence. 

" The child often complained of an ugly old ivoman whom she could see crouching in a 
corner of the room, making faces at her, and who would wake her up at night, and almost 
scare her into fits. One day this child was found lying dead upon the hearthstone. A 
coroner's inquest was held, and the verdict of the jury left it doubtful whether the poor 
little creature had been struck by lightning, died in a fit, or by the visitation of God. One 
thing was certain, namely, that the child had perished in the haunted room, and that she, 
above all the rest of the household, had been the victim of the ghost's malignity. A 
calamity of such a nature was too much even for the hardihood of the present tenant. 
He resolved upon an immediate removal, and would have put his determination into 
effect, had he not been delayed by the premature confinement of his wife, whose period of 
trial was hastened by the tragic circumstances of her little girl's decease. 

" Pending the recovery of the sick woman, the physician, at whose house my mother 
and her family were temporary visitors, was called in to attend the woman. He was also 
requested to send a nurse competent to assist in such a case. Dr. Guffet, although well 
acquainted in his professional capacity with all the poor women of the neighbourhood, was 
unable to induce any one however necessitous to take service in the ' haunted house.' 

" Having at length obtained a suitable attendant from a long distance off, the doctor 
flattered himself that his patient's case was progressing favourably. He soon found how- 
ever that he was reckoning — in this instance at least, without his ghost — for it became 
evident that the stranger nurse was as much an object of the invisible's malignity as the 
deceased child had been. 

"Having been put to sleep for convenience in the room where the child had so 
mysteriously died, she became the target for an incessant system of persecution. She was 
unable to obtain rest by day or night, and one morning when Doctor Guffet was sum- 
moned to attend her, he found her confined to her bed, from the effects of the severe 
beating she had received during the night from invisible hands. Her body was com- 
pletely black with bruises, and these she testified before a magistrate, she had sustained 
from some invisible source which came and went without any known means of access to 
the chamber. The woman affirmed, that she felt a hand belabouring her, as if with a 
stone. The room was uncurtained, and the brightly shining moon made it as light as 
day. She testified upon oath in her examination, that no human being was in the room, 
nor could she discern a single creature near her. When at length her cries for help 
aroused the other inmates, and brought them to her room, the whole party heard a heavy 
bumping sound, as if something was falling off the bed, and moving of its own volition across 
the room, out at the door and down the stairs. The chief witness to the truth of this 
strange story was the doctor himself, who not only testified to the pitiable condition in 
which he found the poor nurse's body, but he added, ' the woman whom I sent to that 
house, hale, hearty, and stout, only a fortnight ago, is now an emaciated object, worn to 
a very shadow, and so distraught by fear that it would be murder to keep her there one 
hour longer.' 

" The next incident which I have to record of this terrible abode, occurred at the sale 
of furniture which ensued, the very first hour that the mother of the family became 
convalescent. 

"The auctioneer, who was related to Dr. Guffet, with whom my mother and her 
parents were visiting, informed them that as he was making an inventory of the goods, 
previous to the sale, he passed into the ' haunted chamber ' about noon, and there 
found an old lady rummaging a wardrobe which stood partly open near the door. 
Deeming it one of the members of the family, although her dress pointed her out to be a 
person of some distinction, he proceeded with his work for some minutes, until he heard 
the voice of the landlord calling to him to come to dinner. Bowing to the old lady as he 
passed her, he stood at the door to see if she would go first ; but as she continued her 
occupation without noticing him, he descended the stairs, and having taken the seat 
placed for him, proceeded with a courtesy peculiar to himself, to put another chair for 



94 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

the lady whom he had noticed above. On being questioned why he did so, explanations 
followed, and the family in haste ascended the stairs to see if any hviman being could 
jeally be found. All was in vain. Every nook and corner was searched without result, 
and when the auctioneer, at request, described the appearance of the strange visitor, it 
was universally admitted that the description corresponded exactly to the detestable 
vision which had tormented the poor deceased child. 

"After these persons quitted the house it remained tenantless for many months. 
The noises could be heard for a considerable distance, and lights were seen flashing at 
the ^vindows at all hours of the night. 

" Workmen were employed to rip up the floors and pull down the walls, in the hope 
of discovering concealed siDrings and trap doors. All was to no purpose, however. 
During these researches, two windows at opposite ends of the long chamber — the 
principal scenes of the hauntings — were pierced by a bidlet or missile of some kind, 
projected with such skill, that two perfectly round holes were found in corresponding 
panes of glass. The wind was felt of the passing missile, and the shiver of the glass 
heard by the workmen, yet nothing was seen, and as the room was on the second storey, 
Avithout a ledge or the slightest foothold for any human being -without, it might be 
inferred that the haunters desired to prove that no human agency could be at work in 
these manifestations. At length the sounds became so frightful that neither free tenants 
nor workmen would enter the place by day or night. It was ultimately abandoned, fell 
into decay, and what remained of it was pulled down. The papers of the time were full 
of reports, doubtless much exaggerated. Sages and scientists were alike baffled. 
Magistrates blustered and threatened, and several officers of the army, who had 
volunteered to sit up during the night, abandoned their watch, end refused again to 
enter such a 'veritable Inferno.''" 

Remembering how many respectable witnesses testified to these facts, — 
how many years their continuance was a source of horror to a whole 
neighbourhood, and loss to the proprietor of a once splendid mansion, 
recollecting moreover, that one of the eye-witnesses is now living, and is 
a venerable lady incapable of falsehood, we have as good a right to admit 
this narrative into the category of historical records, as any well attested 
event of ancient or modern times. 

We now turn to another form of haunting, selected from nmnerous other 
cases, because some of the witnesses are still living, and holding positions 
of the highest resi^ectability. We refer to the unaccountable and persistent 
ringing of bells, which occurred in the house of Major Moor, a gentleman 
till lately residing at Great BeaUng, near Woodbridge. These disturbances 
commenced on February 2nd, 1834, and continued at intervals with more 
or less violence till March 27th. The phenomena consisted of incessant 
ringing, sometimes of two or three, and not unfrequently of a whole row of 
nine bells at the same time — they rang day and night ; at times when Major 
Moor, his servants, and friends, were facing them, when the doors were 
locked within, and the house was guarded without; when the wires of 
communication were cut, and nothing but the bells remained. The ceiling 
and walls were dented by the violence with which the bells were dashed 
against them, and despite the stringent measures taken to discover 
imposture or trick, this strange disturbance continued without evidence of 
human interference, for a period of fifty-three days. At the end of that 
time, it stopped as suddenly as it had originated, leaving its cause involved 
in impenetrable mystery. From a pamphlet published by Major Moor 
on this subject, entitled " Bealing Bells," also from some accounts printed 
in the Ipswich and other journals, we learn, that during the continuance of 
this persecution. Major Moor's investigations were assisted by several of his 
brother officers, some scientific gentlemen, and not a few clergymen who 
were attracted by the accounts which appeared in the papers of the day. 

Amongst the persons who addressed letters to Major Moor, alleging that 
similar phenomena had occurred in their own houses, were families in 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 95 

Cambridge, Ramsgate, London, Oxford, Windsor, Ipswich, and numerous 
other places. Mr. Wm. Felkin, Mayor of Nottingham, and Mr. Ashwell, a 
gentlemen of high standing in Chesterfield, gave accounts of the mysterious 
bell ringings occurring at their residences. But one of the most marked 
cases reported by Major Moor, in addition to his own experience, was that of 
Lieutenant Rivers, one of the officials of Greenwich Hospital. This witness 
stated that he had detailed thirty-seven watchers by day and night in the 
attempt to detect fraud in vain. He employed a bellhanger and his assistant 
to cut the wires of every bell in and about his premises, and then, in the 
face of the men and the presence of many neighbours who had come in to 
witness the wonder, the entire set of bells all over the house began ringing 
at once, and kept up incessant peals for several hours. The bells in some 
of the other officers' apartments in the Hospital were rung in the same way, 
and when Major Moor himself visited the place, he not only received the 
personal testimony of a large number of witnesses, but examined carefully 
the locality, and was made aware of the impossibility of the ringing being 
effected by any human agency. 

The publicity which Major Moor gave to these circumstances, called forth 
a flood of testimony to events of a preternatural character, from various 
sections of the country. Then it appeared that bell-ringing was not the 
only form of disturbance prevailing. Hauntings not unlike in character 
those of the " Sandford Ghost," were reported from many quarters. 

The Rev. Mr. Stewart, Incumbent of Sydensterne near Fakenham, 
Norfolk, wrote in a letter to Major Moor : — 

" Our noises are of a graver character. Successions of rappings, groans, cries, sobs, 
heavy trampings, and thundering knocks in all the rooms and passages, have distressed us 
here for a period of nearly nine years, during the occupancy of my cure. They still 
continue, to the annoyance of my family, and the alarm of my servants. I am enabled to 
trace the existence of these disturbances during a period of sixty years past." 

Mr. Stewart said that in 1833 and 1834, his predecessors in that house 
opened the doors to all respectable persons who desired to satisfy their 
curiosity or wished to investigate the hauntings, but he adds: "Their 
kindness was abused, their motives misinterpreted, and even their characters 
maligned. We therefore," he says, " shut our doors, and they remain 
hermetically sealed." 

In closing these curious narratives it may not be amiss to give a few 
extracts from the records of a spirit circle which was held not long since, 
in which some parties present were commenting severely on the " unmean- 
ing character of such manifestations as bell-ringing and knocking." At this 
juncture one of the communicating spirits interrupted the conversation with 
the following pertinent questions : — 

" Sjiirit — Pray, sir, what do you do when you want to enter a house and find the door 
closed ? 

'' Mortal — Well ! If we really want to get in we knock or ring. 

" Spirit — Then, don't yciu suppose it probable that those who have been knocking and 
ringing in your houses for the past half century are trying to get in too ? 

" Mortal— 'Whj, what can spirits want to get into our houses for ? Having left the 
earth, it seems strange that they should want to get back to it again. 

" Spirit — Most of those who knock and ring in your houses have never left the earth, 
and would far rather get away from it than remain in it. But higher and wiser spirits 
wish to call the world's attention to the actual facts of spiritual existence, and the real 
conditions under which life beyond the grave is continued. Spirits of a very ethereal 
nature cannot affect material substances, and yet, in order to call the world's attention, 



96 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

and waken humanity up to what they have to say, they use the methods so familiar to 
yourselves — thty hnock and ring ; and those who cannot do this for themselves influence 
the earthbound spirits, who are magnetically chained to the scenes of their earthly mis- 
deeds, to do this for them. 

" MoHal — May we regard these hauntings, then, as transpiring under the direction of 
superintending spiritual wisdom ? 

" Spirit — Everything in the univei'se outworks the conditions of the being that belong 
to its state, and providential wisdom avails itself of different states to convert evil into 
good, and evolve uses out of the worst of abuses. Ten thousand preachers on the human 
plane of existence could not demonstrate the fact of spiritual existence so conclusively as 
a spirit who rings a bell in response to a human voice, or answers a question by JcnocJcs, when 
no mortal is near to produce the sounds heard." Verbum sap. 

As a final example of hauntings, especially of that kind which subse- 
quently connected itself with the intelligence manifested at Spirit circles, 
we shall cite a history furnished to the author some years ago by a party 
of her personal friends, amongst whom was a gentleman of probity and 
scientific acumen, well remembered amongst dramatics writers and musi- 
cians, as Mr. Lenox Home. This gentleman being in somewhat 
embarrassed circumstances about the year 1829, took up his abode 
temporarily in apartments offered to him at a very moderate rent in an old 
house near Hatton Garden, long since pulled down. At the period of 
which we write the house was large, the rooms spacious, especially one, 
supposed to have been a banqueting chamber, which Mr. Home used as 
a music room. As all the lower chambers were either appropriated to the 
storing of goods, or rented to legal gentlemen as offices, there were no 
persons sleeping in the house except Mr. Home and a porter, who occupied 
a small room on the ground floor. The building had long borne the 
reputation of being haunted ; it was fast falling to decay, and the former 
occupants of Mr. Home's chambers were seldom known to remain long 
within the gloomy precincts. Report alleged that the place had once been 
the residence of Sir Christopher Hatton, and the weird reputation that 
attached to the antique domicile, connected itself with the magical practices 
attributed to his unfortunate lady. 

Mr. Home had tenanted these apartments some months before he was 
aware of the phenomena occurring within his own premises. At length he 
was apprised by Mr. March, a police officer with whom he was acquainted, 
that for several consecutive nights he and a number of persons invited to 
share his watch, had remarked that long after the hour when Mr. Home 
was accustomed to retire to rest, the great banqueting room, which he had 
no means of fighting up, and therefore never entered except in daylight, 
could be seen from the court below brilliantly illuminated. Whilst acknow- 
ledging that he had often been disturbed by strange noises, odd music, 
loud laughter, and footsteps, for which he could not account, Mr. Home — 
at once the most fearless and least superstitious of beings — strenuously 
combated the idea of the lights, and it was only when, after watching for 
several nights with March and his associates, he himself beheld every 
window of his own apartment, one that he had left closed, locked, and in 
total darkness, lit up as if by a multitude of gas jets, that he could be 
brought to befieve in the story his friends narrated to him. On several 
succeeding occasions the same party beheld this spectacle repeated, and 
whilst some of their number remained below to watch that no intruder 
passed out from the one entrance of the house, the others would hasten to 
examine the apartment, to find it enveloped in thick darkness. One of 
the curious features of this appearance was, the invariability with which the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 97 

lights disappeared from the eyes of the watchers below, at the moment 
when the apartment was opened by the searchers above. Only on one 
occasion was this rule reversed, and that was on a certain night in February, 
when a larger number of persons than usual had assembled in the court 
below to watch for the phantom lights. 

They blazed out suddenly and in fall radiance about one o'clock in the 
morning, when, after observing them for some five minutes, Mr. Home, 
Mr. March, and a nobleman whose name we are not at liberty to mention, 
determined to ascend the stairs and open the door of the haunted room ; 
and as they did so they agreed to give the signal of a whistle to those in 
the court below. At the moment when Mr. Home threw open the large 
door of the room in question, he and his companions were thunderstruck 
to perceive that it was full of company. 

One of the three observers had given the signal agreed upon of the 
whistle which he held in his hand, as he gazed upon the extraordinary 
scene that met the eye. The vast company seemed to be in the act of 
dancing. They represented ladies and gentlemen, arrayed, not in the 
Elizabethan style attributed to the Hatton period of the mansion, but in 
the costume of the reign of Charles the Second, and the whole air seemed 
to be full of waving plumes, fluttering ribbons, and sparkling jewels. The 
three witnesses, who subsequently compared notes with each other, and 
found their own observations fully corroborated by those of the others, 
affirmed, that the particulars of the whole scene as above related were 
plainly, clearly defined, in addition to which, all three declared that every 
one of these splendidly attired revellers wore, or appeared to wear, a mask., 
resembling some disgusting atiimal. 

Before the astounded witnesses could sufficiently collect their senses to 
take any action on what they saw, the lights began to pale and shimmer, 
the whole scene quivered, melted out slowly and gradually, as in a 
dissolving view, and at length, that is, in the space of a few minutes, the 
apartment was seemingly empty and in total darkness. The watchers 
below reported to those above, when at last they had sufficiently collected 
themselves to descend, that the lights were stationary for about five 
minutes after the whistle sounded, and disappeared more gradually than 
usual. 

Immediately after this vision, the house became wholly uninhabitable 
even to Mr. Home, and the two friends who volunteered to share his 
quarters with him. 

Heavy poundings were often heard during the day, for which no account 
could be given. But these were nothing to the Saturnalia which ensued as 
soon as darkness had set in. Tramping of feet, clashing of arms, the 
clinking of glasses, the crash of broken china ; all the sounds attending 
drunken revels, rude brawls, and even murderous fights, were heard, at 
times with horrible distinctness. Low moans, wails, and bitter sobs, were 
still more frequent, and the rushing as of blasts of winds, from unknown 
sources, was a frequent feature of these frightful disturbances. 

The witnesses, and they were many, represented their experiences to 
their friends only to encounter the usual sneer of incredulity and scornful 
derision. Two or three clergymen volunteered to offer prayers, and one 
zealous Catholic went through the formulae of exorcism in the possessed 
mansion ; but always to encounter such a storm of blows, laughter, and 
hideously derisive sounds, as drove them in horror from the place, a retreat 
in which they were shortly imitated by the tenants, who never after 
7 



98 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

recurred to their painful experiences without a TeeHng of deep awe, 
solemnity, and an earnest entreaty that their narration should not be met 
with the ordinary methods of rude denial, and insulting jest. 

Despite what he had already witnessed, Mr. Home had no knowledge of, 
or behef in, the reputed modern Spiritual manifestations, the spread of 
which, since the year 1848, he had noticed but never investigated. 

About the year 1853, being invited to spend the evening with some 
musical friends residing in Hollo way, London, Mr. Home was there 
introduced to Madame Albert, a French lady who was accompanied by 
her little daughter, a child of some eleven years of age. During the evening, 
the hostess proposed that they should try the the experiment of "table 
turning," which was at that time, the technical expression used for evoking 
Spiritual manifestations. Madame Albert had it seemed become developed 
for mediumistic powers, whilst little "Josephine," was reported to be a fine 
somnambulist or trance medium. When the seance was first proposed, Mr, 
Home laughingly alleged his entire ignorance of the subject, but at once 
placed himself in position at the table, under the direction of the attendant 
Sybils, " to see what would come of it." No sooner were the party seated, 
than Mdlle, Josephine seizing the pencil and paper which had been placed 
on the table, wrote in an incredibly short space of time, in a large bold 
hand, the following communication, addressed " To Mr. Lenox Home," 
a name which the child up to that moment had never heard. The writing 
was given in English, a language, it must be remembered, of which the Uttle 
medium was entirely ignorant. 

" You say you know notliing of spiritual existence or the soul's power to return to 
earth. Oh, my friend ! Why will you reject the light that has already dawned upon 
you ? In your own house, you have heard the sounds, and seen the sights, which bore 
witness to the presence of human spirits. Have you forgotten the phantom dancers, 
whom you and your companions thought wore animal masks ? Thise dancers were my 
cempanions in vice and wickedness. They and I lived amidst scenes of revelry too 
shameful to be detailed. We were associates of the frivolous roue, that occupied the 
throne of England, — Charles the Second,— and in the house where you found shelter, we 
often iised to hold such revels as demons alone could take pleasure in. When we became 
spirits, the base passions with which our lives on earth were animated, became so engraved 
upon our spirits, that all who looked upon us from a higher plane, beheld us transfigured 
into the semblance of the animals whose natures we partook of. Shocking as this 
disclosure of our true natures may be, it haply may help future generations to account 
for the idea of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. Unhappily, that doctrine is 
not true. We might be happier as the animals whose limited instincts we represent, but 
oh, unhappy that we are ! we are at once the human beings we ever were, with the 
additional humiliation of knowing that we take to others the semblance of the lower 
creatures, whose passions we have imitated. Friend Horne ! Our hell is, not to pass into 
other states, but to live in our oivn, and by the knowledge of what we have made our- 
selves, to grow into higher conditions. You thought we wore masks. Alas ! We had 
only dropped them, and exchanged the mask of seeming for the face of reality. In the 
sf)irit world, all its inhabitants are known for what they are, and the soul's loves take the 
shape of angelic beauty, or brutish ugliness, according to the tendencies of the life within. 
On the night when you beheld our revels, we were obliged, by the law of our being, to go 
through the earthly scenes which we had taken too much delight in. On earth such 
revels were our heaven ; in the spheres they are our hell. Their enforced enactment was 
part of our penance ; but thank God ! I have seen the erroi-s of the past, and hencefor- 
ward I am atoning for it, and living my wasted life over again. I am on the road of 
progress, and even this humiliating confession will help me forward, and aid me to 
become stronger to save others and myself from the vices, the memories of which still 
cling to me like a garment. Farewell ! My earthly mission is done ; there will be no 
more haunting spirits in the old house in Hatton Garden." 

The signature to this singular communication was, " One who was known 
in the day and time of Charles Stuart as the finest woman of her age — Lady 
Castlemaine." 




D.DuNGLAS Home 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 99 

Appended to Mr. Home's manuscript, entrusted to the author some 
years ago with a view of publication, were the following words : — 

" Great Heaven ! If this be indeed a true picture of the life hereafter, should it not 
make us afraid of doing wrong ? But, above all, what a wicked and soul-destroying delu- 
sion has been the clerical farce of salvation by a vicarious atonement ! — L. H." 



CHAPTER Xni. 

EARLY SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 

Representative Cases Considered. 

The circumstances of the following narrative, although they have been 
frequently referred to in other publications, are too nearly related to the 
early history of Spiritualism in Great Britain to be omitted. They bear, 
moreover, so closely upon the hypothesis that wise Spirits have been 
experimenting during this century in many directions, with a view of 
establishing telegraphic communications between the two worlds, that our 
present recital seems peculiarly apposite to this portion of the work. 

It seems that a young girl of about 13 years of age, the daughter of Mr. 
John Jobson, a resident of Bishop Wearmouth, near Sunderland, sometime 
during the year 1839 became the subject of a severe but inexpUcable 
illness. 

Mary Jobson had been a strong healthy girl up to the period named, 
when she suddenly seemed to collapse under an attack which confined her 
to her bed for over seven months, during which she became blind, deaf, 
and dumb. From time to time numerous physicians were called in, by 
whose directions the poor patient was subjected to all the penalties of the 
" heroic " system of treatment. 

Her case was described as " an abscess on the brain," but whatever the 
malady might have been, it was obviously increased by the applications 
resorted to by her medical attendants. 

Soon after the most serious features of this case became developed, it 
was remarked that the whole house, and especially the sick girl's chamber, 
resounded with unaccountable sounds, consisting of heavy poundings, 
pattering of feet, the ringing of bells, and the clashing of metallic substances. 

As the girl's disease progressed in violence, these disturbances grew more 
marked ; there were times however when they changed to soft and delightful 
music which centred in the invalid's chamber, yet resounded through every 
part of the dwelling. Sometimes it would seem as if a vast crowd of 
people were ascending the stairs and thronging into the room. Even the 
■wind that might be occasiojied by passing bodies was felt, when no one but 
the ordinary attendants were visible. During the progress of these phenomena, 
the tones of a human voice were frequently heard protesting against the 
application of leeches and blisters, and recommending mild herb drinks, 
which, when tried, invariably alleviated the poor patient's sufferings. On 
one occasion when several members of the family, together with Drs. Clanny 



loo NINETEENTH CENTURA MIRACLES. 

and Embleton, were present, this voice spoke clearly and said ; " Your 
appliances will never benefit, but materially injure the girl. She will recover, 
but by no human means." On several occasions the glasses containing 
medicines, together with blisters and leeches, were snatched out of the 
attendant's hands, and thrown to distant parts of the room. Not unfre- 
quently a crooning tone was heard, as of a mother soothing a sick child, and 
the poor girl's hair was put back and smoothed by tender invisible hands. 
Dr. Beattie who witnessed many of these scenes, affirms, that it would be 
impossible either to describe or forget, the angelic expression of the invalid's 
face at the time when the manifestations of invisible presence were most 
evident. 

About the sixth month of this strange drama, the ceiling of the room in 
which Mary Jobson lay, was suddenly found adorned with a beautifully 
painted representation of the sun, moon, and stars. 

The father of the patient — who from the first had been determinately 
hostile to the invisible actors, alleging that they were " demons," and the 
cause of his child's sickness^no sooner perceived this fresh proof of 
spiritual agency, than he proceeded to obliterate the paintings with a thick 
coat of whitewash. His work was in vain however, for the obnoxious 
paintings re-appeared as soon as the whitewash was dry, only fading out 
when the child's recovery was established. 

On June 22nd, 1840, Mary Jobson regained her speech, hearing, and 
sight, as suddenly as she had lost them. Her strength too returned, and in 
a few days, without any apparent cause for the change, she was entirely 
restored to her usual health and, spirits. For several weeks the occasional 
sounds of music, voices, knockings, and the movement of bodies continued, 
but these phenomena ultimately ceased, and have never since returned. 

The chief witnesses to this wonderful history Were the girl's parents, 
numerous friends and neighbours; Doctors Embleton and Beattie; also 
Dr. Drury, Messrs. Torboch and Ward, eminent surgeons, and Dr. Reid 
Clanny, F.R.S., physician in ordinary to the Duke of Sussex, and at the 
time of these occurrences, senior physician of the Sunderland Infirmary. 

Dr. Reid Clanny, who was not professionally called in to attend the 
child, became informed of her case through the reports that were in circula- 
tion concerning it. Like a true and candid scientist, this gentleman, heedless 
of all the wild rumours that reached him, called on the parents, and subse- 
quently followed up the case with the closest scrutiny, often witnessing the 
phenomena described, and satisfying himself according to his own published 
statement, " that the power — come from whence it may — was not only kind 
and beneficent, but that it manifested all the tokens of human intelligence, 
and was better able to prescribe remedies and delineate the course of the 
disease than any of the attendant physicians." 

These admissions were made in an account of the case which Dr. Clanny 
pubhshed in pamphlet form, and though he staked his reputation upon the 
truth of his statements, and cited the testimony of numerous respectable 
witnesses, including Doctors Drury, Embleton, Ward, and Torboch, his 
fearless and timely publication was met by the scoff of the press> the ridicule 
of those scientists ivho had not witnessed the phenomena described, and the 
special denunciation of the learned and pious. 

The pamphlet, nevertheless, was eagerly bought up, and a second 
edition soon called for. In this Dr. Clanny bravely maintained his position, 
adding the following earnest words from Mr. Torboch, one of the surgeons 
who followed the case throughout : — 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. loi 

" I have had lengthened and serious conversations at different times with nearly all the 
persons who have borne testimony to this miraculous case, and I am well assured they 
are religious and trustworthy, and, moreover, that they have faithfully discharged their 
duty in this important affair between God and man." 

Since the above account was \A'Titten the author has been favoured with 
a perusal of Dr. Clanny's pamphlet, from which the following few additional 
details are gathered. After commenting on the pecuUarity of the voice 
heard speaking in Mary's chamber, Dr. Clanny says : — 

" The phenomena of human voices speaking, did not seem to be special to the sick 
girl's chamber. Mrs. Elizabeth Gauntlett, a schoolmistress, was suddenly startled by 
hearing a voice crying to her, 'Mary Jobson, one of your scholars, is ill ; go and see her, 
it will be good for you.' This person, the child's school teacher, did not know where she 
lived, but finding the address, she went as directed, and was called by the voice in a loud 
tone, audible to all those in the house, to come upstairs. On her second visit, delightful 
music filled the room, and was heard by sixteen persons. 

" The voice often declared the child did not suffer, her spirit being away, and her body 
being sustained by guardian spirits. These voices told many things of distant persons 
and scenes which came true. 

" Before the girl lost her speech she affirmed that she was often visited by * a divine 
being who looked like a man, only exceedingly heavenly and beautiful.' Mr. Joseph 
Slagg, and Mrs. Margaret Watson, friends of the family, who often visited the sick gM, 
alleged that each of them had at different times beheld the same divine apparition, and had 
been assured by it that the girl would recover. On several occasions ' the voice ' desired 
that water should be sprinkled on the floor, and when the sceptical father refused com- 
pliance, water from some unknown source fell in showers around the witnesses. 

" On the 22nd of June, when the poor child seemed to be in the last extremity, the 
family assembled round her bed united in prayer that God would be pleased to take her 
and terminate her sufferings. At five o'clock in the afternoon the voice cried out, 
' Prepare the girl's clothes, and let every one leave the room except the baby.' This was 
a little child of two yeai's and a half old, who was playing about near the window. When 
the family at length most reluctantly obeyed, they remained outside the closed door for 
fifteen minutes ; they then heard a voice calling out, " Come in," and when they entered 
they found Mary quite well, sitting in a chair with the baby on her knee, smiling and 
happy." 

The report adds : — 

"Up to this time, January 30th, 1841, no relapse has taken place, and Mary Jobson 
seems as well as girls of her age ordinarily are." 

Dr. Drury, Dr. Clanny, and Mr. Torboch all assert that many persons 
ot rank and some ministers of the Established Church visited Mary 
Jobson, and unreservedly testified to the truth of Dr. Clanny's published 
report. 

Few seekers into the evidences which cluster around the history of 
Spiritualism in England will forget the law suit instituted by a Mr. Webster, 
the proprietor of a house at Trinity, Edinburgh, for damages done to his 
property by Captain Molesworth, a gentleman, who with his family, rented 
Mr. Webster's house, and was accused of causing extensive dilapidations 
therein, by his attempts to discover the secret of the terrible hauntings 
which beset the place. 

Captain Molesworth entered upon possession of the house in question 
in June, 1835. Shortly after this, one of his daughters died, leaving a 
sister of about thirteen years old. This young lady soon after fell into 
ill health, took to her bed, and after some months of a strange and 
unaccountable illness, died. 

Tt was generally asserted that the cruel suspicions and harassing investi- 
gations, that followed upon the disturbances, the principal scene of which 



I02 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

was the poor invalid's chamber, did more to hasten her decease, than 
either the phenomena, or the course of the disease. In this case as 
in that of Mary Jobson, dehghtful music, and audible human voices from 
unknown and invisible sources were constantly heard around Miss Moles- 
worth's bed. 

In other parts of the house, heavy poundings, loud enough to be heard 
in the street, together with groans, cries, footsteps, and rustlings, were of 
frequent occurrence. 

The sleepers were awakened at night by the beds being heaved up, and 
rappings, which would respond by given signals to questions asked by the 
family. 

In Mrs. Catherine Crowe's "Night Side of Nature," it is stated, that 
carpenters, masons, city officials, justices of the peace, and the officers of the 
regiment quartered at Leith who were friends of Captain Molesworth, all 
came to aid in his investigations, in the hope of detecting imposture, or 
exorcising his tormentors, in vain. 

Cordons of guards were stationed round the house by day and night, 
whilst the poor invalid, whose room seemed to be the chief centre of the 
hauntings, was not only carefully watched, bat even tied up in a bag, and 
subjected to all sorts of harassing annoyances to make sure that she had 
no hand in producing the disturbances. 

Absurd and vexatious as these suspicions were, they were soon put to 
flight by the suffering girl's decease. Meantime, the evidence called forth 
by the trial for damages done to Mr. Webster's house, conclusively enough 
proved to the world the supramundane character of the hauntings, and the 
impossibility of any human agency accounting for them. 

The case of Elizabeth Squirrel, the vision seeress \ of the haunted house 
at Willington — still in possession of its spiritual occupants, as the latest 
reports from Newcastle testify — together with many hundreds of well-attested 
instances of hauntings, ghost seeing, visions, wraiths, and divers other 
forms of Spiritual manifestations, occurring in Great Britain during this, and 
the preceding century, have been so minutely described in the works 
already alluded to, that it would be unnecessary to add to the examples 
already cited. 

In reviewing the narratives thus presented, there will invariably appear 
to be many striking points of resemblance amongst them. For instance ; 
they will most generally be found to represent the spirits of human beings, 
and to manifest human intelligence. Invisible though they may be to 
mortal eyes — except in rare instances — the actors seem to take cognizance 
of persons and things in the material world ; to hear speech addressed 
to them, and to respond intelligently by signal sounds or motions. 

In some cases — as in that of the " Sandford ghost"— the invisible 
presence seems to be malign and mischievous — in others, as illustrated 
by the bell-ringing at Great Bealing, the demonstrations appear to be 
simply meaningless and silly. 

Intelligence, skill, and kindness, marked the action of the invisible 
presence that attended Mary Jobson, and lessons of deep import and 
suggestion grew out of the hauntings detailed by Mr. Lenox Home. 

Could all Spiritual manifestations have been thoroughly sifted, and direct 
question and answer have taken the place of the foolish exorcisms, threats, 
and denunciations, with which these hauntings were formerly received, 
might they not have been explained upon the same hypotheses which are 
revealed to humanity in the open communion that now exists between the 
Spiritual and natural worlds ? 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



[03 



By these we learn, that haunting spirits are magnetically fettered to the 
scene of their earthly crimes ; that the sounds and sights heard and seen 
in such places, are projected from the spirit world into the earth's atmos- 
phere by unhappy spirits; the remembrance of their former evil deeds 
becoming their hell, in which they are compelled to re-enact the deeds 
that continually recur to their minds. 

Other spirits of a higher grade with better intentions, and better guidance, 
ring and knock to attract attention, and compel enquiry ; and still again 
others, whose love for humanity prompts them to become the guardian 
spirits of dear relatives still remaining on earth, endeavour to make their 
watch and word known, as in the cases of Mary Jobson and Matilda 
Molesworth, by acts of beneficence and tokens of tender ministration. 

Could every demonstration of Spiritual presence, whether it comes in 
the form of haunting or loving ministry, be thoroughly investigated, whilst 
its phenomena would unquestionably afford to mankind the indication of 
Spiritual laws now unknown, it would also resolve itself into such strictly 
human intelligence, that we should marvel how we could have ever rele- 
gated it to the dreary horrors of a weird supernaturalism, 

Mr. S. C. Hall, the venerable editor of the Art Joiirtial, was the 
first writer we believe who contributed to the literature of SpirituaHsm the 
well-known narrative of the spirit calling himself " Caspar." 

This denizen of the other world seemed compelled, in his first attempts 
to communicate with earth, to manifest his presence by the usual array of 
terrifying sounds and movements which accompany supernatural agencies ; 
in process of time however he was enabled to converse with the family to 
whom he was attracted, through the methods of ordinary human speech. 
For over three years this Spirit took part in the daily life, interests, and 
welfare of his human friends; talking with them, advising, and counselling 
them, with all the wisdom and affection of a beloved member of their 
household, and when at last he left them, in pursuance of some Spiritual 
conditions which, as he alleged, would aid his progress, but deprive him 
of the power to hold farther audible intercourse with them, they felt " as if 
they had lost their best friend," and could hardly be reconciled to his 
absence. 

Nothing can more conclusively prove that the darkest shadows of 
" Supernaturalism " have become dissipated, and given place to light and 
reason, than the present open communion with the Spirit world. In this, 
we recognize the men, women, and children of this world over again ; the 
good ascending into angel-hood, the indifferent still lingering on the threshold 
of the earth, with which their affections have been ail too closely inter- 
woven, — and the evil-minded, either exhibiting the first monitions of 
remorse which impel them forward on the path of progress, or the same 
hardened adherence to criminal tendencies which await the softening 
influences of penitence, to lead them into the way of reform. 

The great American Seer A. J. Davis, describes in one of his works, a 
visit he made to the bedside of a man, suffering under an aggravated attack 
of delirium tremens. 

On entering the room, Mr. Davis beheld the apparition of a beautiful 
female Spirit standing at the foot of the bed, scattering visionary flowers 
over the coverlid, and endeavouring by magnetic passes of her fair hands, 
to soothe the sufferer's fever-haunted condition. 

Oh describing this celestial visitant to the family present, she was at once 
recognized as a departed relative, whose pure life corresponded to her 



T04 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

angelic appearance. It seemed however that the spiritual perceptions of 
the unfortunate patient were sufficiently awakened to be conscious of the 
presence, although not of its beneficent character, for in the midst of his 
frantic ravings, he was perpetually complaining of a demon, who stood at the 
foot of his bed, stinging him with thorns, a?id throwing off fire from her 
hands. He often appealed to those around, asking if they could not see 
this demon, whose frightful appearance filled him with horror. Is not the 
delirium of ignorance and superstition just as capable of transforming 
angels into demons, as the delirium of drunkenness? 

We must now invite the reader to consider in some detail, the signifi- 
cance of four well-known movements, each of which, by the wide-spread 
influence they have exercised over their votaries, demands recognition and 
earnest attention from the students of psychological philosophy. These 
are Mormonism ; Shakerism, the sect known as Irvingites, and the Irish 
Revivals ; of course the two former, although largely recruited from British 
sources, belong to the history of American Spiritualism. Neither of these 
movements may be commended to public acceptance, for their beneficial 
influence upon mankind. 

But, though the cui bono of the subject is not the point with which the 
facts of history are called upon to deal, it will become self-evident to 
thoughtful students, that there is something wonderfully significant in the 
lessons which these singular and exceptional movements teach us. For 
example ; Mormonism, which originated through the Spiritual Mediumship 
of Joseph Smith, illustrates with overwhelming force the depravity into 
which human beings may be plunged, by seeking authority for their 
religious beliefs, in the days of ancient barbarism; and setting up for 
modern example, the old Jehovah system, which not only sanctioned, but 
even enjoined the horrors of relentless warfare, 'and the infamies of 
Polygamy. 

On the other hand, we have the religion of Anne Lee, the spiritually- 
inspired founder of Shakerism, rushing into that opposite extreme of 
excessive asceticism, which, if Shaker life and practice could prevail over 
the earth, would depopulate it in a single generation. 

Both these movements owe their origin to spiritually-inspired founders ; 
both are advent footprints in the wilderness of modern materialism ; but 
whilst Mormonism illustrates the futility of looking to the past, to find 
authority for our religious beliefs, Shakerism equally proves the imbecility 
of attempting to inaugurate in the earthly present, a system of asceticism 
which only belongs to our condition as pure spirits, in the future. 

THE IRVINGITES. 

The third movement to which allusion was made above, is the wonderful 
Pentecostal outpouring which fell on certain members of a church presided 
over by the Rev. Edward Irving, from whom the aff"ected persons were 
called by the name of " Irvingites." The following brief summary of this 
remarkable demonstration, is gathered chiefly from the history of Edward 
Irving by Mrs. Oliphant, published in Mr. Thomas Shorter's excellent 
account of Spiritual manifestations, entitled " The Two Worlds," and a small 
volume on " The Revivals," written by W. M. Wilkinson, Esq., solicitor, 
of Lincoln's Inn, London. 

The latter in introducing his subject says : — 

" Of Mr. Irving himself, it is only necessary to say that he believed and preached that 
the Church might and ought to have a restoration of the divine gifts which are promised 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 105 

in the gospels, and that the not having such, was a sign of its low state and was in fact 
its condemnation. 

" "Whatever may be thought of his theory, he was a great and good man, as all who 
knew him testify. 

" Carlyle, who knew and loved him, says of him — ' He was the freest, brotherliest, 
bravest human soul mine ever came in contact with. 

" ' I call him on the whole the best man I have ever, after trial enough, found in this 
world, or ever hope to find.' " 

One thing is certain, that panegyrists and detractors ahke, attribute to 
Mr. Irving a character of singular purity and rectitude, whilst it is univer- 
sally admitted, that his eloquence, and the marvellous power he exerted 
over his immense and fashionable congregations, were as remarkable even 
before the Spiritual outpouring with which his name is associated, as any 
phenomena which occurred during that wonderful visitation. 

It was in the magnificent church in Regent Square, erected at a cost of 
fifteen thousand pounds expressly for Mr. Irving — then the most popular 
preacher in London — that the outpouring of " the gift of tongues " occurred. 

It seems that the first manifestation of this singular power, commenced 
in Port Glasgow sometime in 1830. 

Mr. Irving, a Scotchman by birth, had commenced his ministerial career 
in Glasgow, and as the reputed demonstrations were of the character which 
he himself alleged the Church of Christ should possess, he became strongly 
interested in the tidings that reached him, and forthwith sent one of the 
elders of his own church to enquire into, and report upon the matter. 

The following extracts are condensed from Mr, Irving's own narra- 
tive of the "gift of tongues," published va. Eraser's Magazine (vol. iv.), in 
which is embodied the report of the agent above alluded to. The latter, 
writing to his Pastor, Mr. Irving, says : — 

"About this time (1830), in the death-bed experiences of certain holy persons, there 
appeared many and very wonderful instances of the power of God's Spirit, both in the way 
of discernment and utterance. They were able to know the condition of God's people at a 
distance. In one instance, the countenance shone with a glorious hrightness, as if it had 
heen the face of an angel ; they spoke much of a bright dawn about to arise in the Church ; 
and one of them, just before death, signified that he had received the knowledge of the 
thing ahoid to ie manifested. , . . 

" In March, 1830, on the evening of the Lord's Day, the gift of speaking with tongues 
was restored to the Church. The handmaiden of the Lord, of whom He made choice on 
that night to manifest forth in her His glory, had been long afHicted with a disease which 
the medical men pronounced to be a decline. It was on the Lord's Day, and one of her 
sisters, along with a female friend who had come to the house for that end, had been 
spending the whole day in fasting and prayer before God, with a special respect to the 
restoration of the gifts. They had come up in the evening to the sick chamber of their 
sister, and, along with one or two others of the household, were engaged in prayer, when 
the Holy Ghost came with mighty power upon the sick woman as she lay in her weakness, 
and constrained her to speak at great length, and tvith superhuman strength, in an unknoivn 
tongue, to the astonishment of all who heard. She has told me that this first seizure of 
the Spirit was the strongest she ever had ; and that it was in some degree necessary it 
should have been so, otherwise she would not have dared to give way to it. 

" The editor of the Morning Watch * writes : ' We have seen eight different individuals 
who have been eye-witnesses of these manifestations, and who are unanimous in their 
testimony to the supernatural, holy, and influential energy of what they there ivitnessetV 
We subjoin the testimony of one of these, Mr. John B. Cardale, who is now the head of 
the church. He was specially sent by Mr. Irving to make enquiry, with five others, into 
these alleged tongues, and he thus gives their observations : — ' During our stay, four 
individuals received the gift of tongues. The tongues spoken by aU the several persons 
who had received the gift are perfectly distinct in themselves and from each other. 
J. M'D. speaks two tongues, both easily discernible from each other. J. M'D. exercises his 

* A periodical established mainly as an organ of the Irvingites. 



io6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

gift more frequently than any of the others ; and I have heard him speak for twenty 
minutes together, with all the energy of voice and action of an orator addressing an 
audience. The language which he uttered is full and harmonious, containing many 
Greek and Latin radicals, and with inflexions resembling those of the Greek language. 
The only time I ever had a serious doubt whether the unknown sounds which I heard 
on these occasions were parts of a language, was ivhen Mr. M'D.'s servant spoke during the 
first evening. When she spoke on subsequent occasions it was invariably in one tongue, 
which was not only perfectly distinct from the sounds she uttered at the first meeting, 
but was satisfactorily estabhshed, to my conviction, to be a language. 

" ' One of the persons thus gifted we employed as our servant while at Port Glasgow. 
She is a remarkably quiet, steady, phlegmatic person, entirely devoid of forwardness or 
enthusiasm, and with very little to say for herself in the ordinary way. The language 
which she spoke was as distinct as the others, and it was quite evident the language 
spoken at one time, was identical with that spoken at another time. 

" ' The chanting or singing ivas also very remarhable. J. M'D.'s ordinary voice is in 
singing, harsh and unpleasing ; but when thus singing in the Spirit, the tones are perfectly 

harmonious. On the morning after the day on which Mrs. received the gift of 

tongues, I heard her singing stanzas with the alternate lines rhyming. The tune was at 
first slow, but she became more and more rapid in her utterance, until at last, syllable 
followed syllable as rapidly as was possible, and yet each syllable distinctly enunciated. 

" ' These persons, while uttering the unknown sounds, as also while speaking in the 
Spirit in their own language, have every appearance of being under supernatural direction. 
The manner and voice are difi'erent from what they are on ordinary occasions. 

" ' Their whole deportment gives an impression not to he conveyed in words, that their 
organs are made use of by supernatural power. M. M'D. one morning, having, in conse- 
quence of a severe cold, so entirely lost the use of her voice as to be unable to speak out 
of a whisper, yet, on a sudden, commenced, and from ten a.m. to two p.m. continued 
speaking in a loud voice — sometimes in intercessory prayer in the Spirit, sometimes in 
denouncing the coming judgments, and occasionally speahing in an unknown tongue — 
and at the end of that time she relapsed exactly into her former state.' 

" When this messenger returned to London with his tidings, it was to find the tongues 
of flame sitting on his oivn ivife and daughters. StiU, not rashly, nor arrogantly, was 
the marvel proclaimed to the world. For some time, only in private meetings was the 
' gift invited to manifest itself.' There, philological learning^ pronounced the utterances 
something more than jargon, and observation failed to detect imposture. Prayer- 
meetings were then held every morning at the church in Eegent-square, and were 
numerously attended. At these meetings, exhortations would be uttered in the ' tongue ' 
by one person, and the interpretation chanted in English by another. Warnings and pre- 
dictions were sometimes given. On Sunday morning, October 16th, a 'sister' {Miss Hall) 
hurst forth in the open congregation ivith an utterance in the tongue. I calmed the 1,500 or 
2,000 people who had risen in alarm, bade the sister console herself — for she had struggled 
with the power that had possession of her, and hastened her into the vestry of the church, 
there to give it speech — and expounded to the congregation the 14th chap, of the First 
Epistle to the Corinthians, as explanatory of the occurrence. In the evening a ' brother ' 
produced even greater excitement than the morning speaker.; and in the course of the 
week all London was talking of this new phase. The ' unknown tongues ' continued in 
the church, and other ' utterances in the Spirit ' were also given ; and remarkable cases 
of healing by spiritual power occurred. 

" Those who speak in the tongue always declare ' that the words uttered in English 
are as much by power supernatural as the words uttered in the language unknown.' But 
no one hearing and observing the utterance could for a moment doubt it, inasmuch as 
the whole utterance, from the beginning to the end of it, is ^vith a potver, and strength, 
and fulness, and sometimes rapidity of voice altogether different from that of the person's 
ordinary utterance in any mood ; and I would say, both in its form and in its effects upon 
a simple mind, evidently supernatural. There is a poiuer in the voice to thrill the heart and 
overawe the spirit after a manner which I have never seen." 

Besides "the tongues," the gift of heahng became manifested in the 
church, and the power extended to other congregations. 

At Liverpool and Baldock in Hertfordshire, manifestations similar in 
character to those of the churches in Port Glasgow and Regent Square, 
became openly displayed. 

Mr. Irving at the earnest solicitation of many interested persons, wrote 
accounts of the manifestations which were published in Eraser'' s Magazine 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 107 

(vols. iv. and v.) ; he also contributed largely to the columns of the Morning 
Watch, a quarterly magazine in which the facts and philosophy of the 
strange movement were freely discussed. 

Mr. Irving very highly commends the manner and forms of this " divine 
speech," and by abundant and earnest reasonings, endeavoured to show 
that it was a renewal of Apostolic gifts and powers. After some two years 
continuance of these manifestations, certain members of Mr. Irving's 
congregation began to utter loud complaints of the disorders that had arisen, 
the result of which was, that a charge of heresy was ultimately preferred 
against him. 

At the trial that ensued " an utterance in power " came from Mr. David 
Dow, charging those who were faithful to arise and depart, whereupon Mr. 
Irving and Mr. Dow made their way out of church, and sentence against 
the pastor was formally pronounced. 

Besides this ruinous division in the excellent and amiable clergyman's 
congregation, there were other causes of disunion at work with the 
Revivalists themselves, which militated against the subject, and tended to 
bring it into ill odour with the world. The principal causes of this division 
originated with Mr, Robert Baxter, once an enthusiastic subject of the 
lingual gift, and subsequently a disbeliever in the divine origin of the 
power which he himself had manifested. 

This secession from the Irvingite ranks, was announced by Mr. Baxter 
himself in a tract which he published entitled, A narrative of facts 
characterizing the supernatural manifestations in the members of Mr. Irving s 
co?igregation, and other individuals in England and Scotland, and formerly in 
the w titer himself 

As no description of the subject can depict it in the same vivid light that 
it borrows from the testimony of witnesses and participators, we shall give 
the following quotations from Mr. Baxter's pamphlet as the best illustra- 
tion on record of " the power," and a subsequent condition of disenchant- 
ment. 

Mr. Baxter says, writing of himself sometimes in the third person, and 
again in the first : — 

"He had heard many particulars of the extraordinary manifestations which had 
occurred at Port Glasgow, and thought that there were sufficient grounds in Sci-ipture 
to warrant a fair investigation of them. Being called up to London in August, 1831, he 
' had a strong desire to attend the prayer-meetings which were then privately held by 
those who spoke in the power and who sought for the gifts.' Having obtained an intro- 
duction, he attended, and heard ' the utterances,' both in the unknown and in the 
English tongue. In the latter there was, he says, ' a cutting rebuke to all who were 
present, and applicable to my own state of mind in particular. In the midst of the feeling 
of awe and reverence which this produced, I was myself seized upon by the poiver ; and in 
much struggling against it, was made to cry out, and myself to give forth a confession of my 
own sin in the matter for which loe were rehuTced. There was in me at the time of the 
utterance, very great excitement, and yet I was distinctly conscious of a power acting 
upon me beyond excitement.' 

" From this period, for the space of five months, I had no utterances in public ; though 
when engaged alone in private prayer, the power would come down upon me, and cause 
me to pray ivith strong crying and tears for the state of the church. On one occasion, whilst 
in my study, endeavouring to hft up my soul in prayer, the power came upon me, and I 
found myself lifted up in soul to God, and by a constraint I cannot describe I was 
made to speak a prayer that the Lord would deliver me from fleshly weakness, and graciously 
bestow upon me the gifts of his Spirit. This prayer was so loud, that I put my handker- 
chief to my mouth to stop the sound, that I might not alarm the house. When I had 
reached the last word, the power died off me, and I was left as before, save in amazement 
at what had passed. 



io8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" In January, 1832, when I again visited the brethren in London, the gifts in 
Mr. Irving's church were now being exercised in the public congregation. The 
day following my arrival, being called upon by the pastor to read, I opened upon 
the prophet Malachi, and read the fourth chapter. As I read, the power came 
upon me, and I was made to read in the power. My voice, raised far beyond its natural 
pitch, with constrained repetition of parts, and with the same inward uplifting which at 
the presence of the power I had always before experienced. When I knelt down to pray. 
/ was carried out to pray in the poiver for the presence and blessing of God in the midst 
of the church ; in all this I had great joy and peace, without any of the strugglings 
which had attended my former utterances in the power. 

" On the Sunday following, the power came in the form of revelation and opening of 
scripture ; and as I read, the opening of it was just as light fiittiag across the mind. A 
passage would be opened in the clearest manner, until portion after portion having been 
opened, and an interpretation given ivhich I not only had never thought of, hut tvhich was 
at variance ivith my previous systematic construction of it. 

" If it were convenient here to make particular mention of men's names, I could name 
you many, who of late years have received such strange preservations, even against the 
common course of nature, that might convince an Atheist of the finger of God therein. 

'' It hath been my oion case more than once, twice, or ten times. When means have all 
failed and the highest art has senteaced me hopeless, I have been relieved by the preval- 
ence of fervent prayer." 

During the prevalence of "the power," a large number of seemingly 
miraculous cases of healing occurred with those upon whom the spiritual 
gifts were poured out. Among the most notable was the cure of a Miss 
Macdonald, an invalid of many years standing, who was entirely restored to 
health, by the touch, prayer, and command to " arise and walk," of her 
brother James, one of the Port Glasgow subjects of the "supernatural 
power." This same man, after raising his sister from the sick bed to 
which she had been confined for years, addressed a letter to a dear friend, 
a Miss Mary Campbell, who had just been given up to die by the doctors. 
In this letter, James Macdonald informed the sick lady, she must instantly 
arise and go forth to testify for the Lord. Without the least help, " the 
dying girl" arose, dressed herself, walked down to the meeting-room, and 
entered upon a career which lasted for many months as a prophetess of the 
new church. 

Mrs. Oliphant in her life of Irving, also mentions a sister of Mary 
Campbell's — Isabella, who was cured in the same way and with the same 
results. 

Still more renowned was the case of Miss Fancourt^ the daughter of a 
clergyman, who for eight years had been a helpless cripple, and whom her 
father's congregation had been accustomed to see carried to church in the 
arms of attendants and laid on her back in her pew during the service. 
The wonderful cure of Miss Fancourt was effected iji a single minute by 
the prayers of an eminent subject of the gifts, Mr. Greaves. As the cure 
has been reported at length in numerous religious as well as secular publi- 
cations, we must close our notice of it with a brief extract from a letter 
written by the lady's father, the Rev. T. Fancourt, to the Christian 
Observer.) of November, 1831 : — 

" Her backbone, which was curved before, is now perfectly straight, and her collar-bones 
are quite equal, whereas one of them was previously much enlarged. It is four years 
since she walked at all, and then it was but for a short time with the assistance of a stick, 
and subject to a pain in her hip. She now walks stoutly and free from all pain." 

It is almost unnecessary to add, that whilst the fact of these, and many 
other equally marvellous cures could not be disputed, the invariable tone 
of explanation adopted by the religious journals was, that "the cures 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 109 

were wholly wrought by the name of Jesus ; " and " faith in the Lord 
Christ," &c., &c. These religious writers then, as now, forgot to explain 
why the millions of earnest Christians that have been done to death and 
tortured barbarously by other Christians, during the ages of Christian 
warfare and persecution, were neither saved from death at the stake, or 
mutilation, by faith in the name of Christ. John Huss, Latimer, Ridley, 
Joan of Arc, and tens of thousands of devout Christians, have called upon 
the name of their Lord in their hour of anguish in vain. If the prayer of 
faith was all that was necessary to save from death and agony, why were the 
Misses Campbell and Miss Fancourt cured, and ten thousand Christian 
martyrs unregarded? An equally pertinent question arises in reference 
to the thousands of cures which have transpired amongst the modern 
Spirituahsts, many of which are recorded in their literature, and some few 
referred to in this volume. The prayer of faith in these instances is wanting, 
and the name of Christ is seldom or ever used. Can our Christian friends 
explain the modus operandi of these anti-Christian healing exploits ? Even 
Mr. Baxter, after abandoning the Christian solution of his problematical 
state, does not deny the facts of healing of which he was an eye-witness, 
and a subject himself Can the " Satanic " theory upon which this eminent 
witness falls back, cover the ground of Spiritual healing as well as the 
name of Christ ? If so, can our Christian friends explain the difference of 
the power, and the superiority of one source over the other? 

As the limitations of our space will permit of no more extended notice 
of this remarkable movement, nor of the vast multitude of witnesses whose 
testimony was rendered to the facts of healing as well as of tongues, we must 
conclude with the following brief extract from the life of Edward Irving by 
Mr. Wilks, one of his admiring followers. 

This writer, after detailing the circumstances of Mr. Irving's trial, and 
final withdrawal from the church, concludes with the following touching 
remarks : — 

" His public work was over. His flesh became wan ; his raven hair hoary as with 
extreme age. His eye gleamed with au unquiet light, and the hectic spot on his pale 
cheek betrayed the fire burning at his heart. On December the 8th, 1834, he passed to 
that rest for which his weary spirit longed. The last words he was heard to utter were 
' If I die I die unto the Lord. Living and dying I am the Lord's.' " 

It would be needless to pursue in farther detail the course of the Catholic 
Apostolic CJmrch, an organization which claims the noble-minded and 
devoted Edward Irving as its founder, although it neither adopts his name, 
nor conserves " the power" which made that name during four short years 
a milestone on the highway of immortality. 

Numerous records of kindred powers are to be found in the history of 
Spiritualism, but those which distinguished the uprising at Port Glasgow, and 
the Irvingites in London, undoubtedly owe a large share of their world-wide 
renown to the talents, eloquence, and unspotted life of the brave and 
devoted gentleman who gave all he was, and all he had, even to his very 
life, to uphold the truth and divinity of the mighty outpouring with which 
his name is associated. 

It is one of the triumphs as well as the consolations of Spiritualism, to be 
assured, that Edward Irving still lives, and though removed from the scenes 
of earthly trial in which his pure life was consumed, " he being dead, yet 
speaketh ! " 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

EARLY SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 
The Irish Revivals. 

The fourth and last great movement of a Pentecostal character to which 
we can call attention as occurring during the present century, has been 
named " The Irish Revival," and though we have no direct account of its 
unfoldment before 1857 — nine years after the commencement of " Modern 
Spiritualism " in America, the scenes of the Irish drama were so distant 
from and unconnected with other European centres wherein "spirit circles" 
were generally held, and the people upon whom " the power " fell, were so 
far removed in rank and national isolation from the cultured classes 
amongst whom Spiritualism in Great Britain for the most part took root, 
that there does not seem even a possibility of tracing any connexion 
between the two movements, unless we admit the hypothesis of a 
universal outpouring of the Spirit all over the world and one moving in 
psychological currents of influence from all points of the compass. 

In commencing our necessarily brief review of the Irish Revivals, we must 
give some account of the place as well as the persons with whom they 
originated, and this we do in the words of William Arthur, A.M., a learned 
gentleman who published several voluminous tracts on this subject. 

After speaking of the colonies of Protestants from England and Scotland 
who peopled Ulster, and whose descendants form now its main population, 
Mr. Arthur says : — 

" The people are notoriously cool, practical, money -making, strong-willed, and fond of 
disputation. 

" None of the popular rehgious delusions which took effect in other places found their 
way into Ulster. Spiritual life was low, but the exaggerated crimes which prevailed in 
Eomish parts of the land were rare. Still many forms of vice were very prevalent. 
DrunJcenness raged like a plague ; swearing, cockfighting, gambling, and large numbers of 
illegitimate births, formed its natural train. A policeman on the streets of Belfast told 
us that he had lived in Ahoghill for two years, and that it was the ' worst wee place in 
the world.' On a day when a funeral took place, he said, there was so much drinking 
and fighting, that the lock-up was always full ; and on a fair day you could not go many 
yards without hearing drunken men cursing the Pope. 

" The origin of the present movement is clearly traced to Connor, a parish seven miles 
long, peopled by small farmers, weavers, and linen manufacturers, nearly all Presby- 
terians, mixed only with a handful of Church people, and scarcely any Eoman Catholics. 

" There was a young man residing at Ballymena, a few miles away, who was zealous 
for religion after his manner, and stood in his own eyes as a Christian. But he heard a 
lady from England conversing with some young women, and describing true conversion. 
Her words reached the heart of the young man. He sought the inward and holy power 
of religion, and found clear and joyful acceptance with his Father in heaven. Full of this 
new happiness, he returned to his own parish. 

"In the month of September, 1857, he and three other young men joined together in 
secret felloivship, to pray for Ood's special blessing on the people around them. 

" Three months later what is called ' The Spring Communion' came. The parish had 
been more or less filled with tidings of the prayers that were being offered, and of the 
happy conversions which had taken place. Their minister had been preaching on the 
subject of a great revival, and telling what the Lord was doing for his vineyard in America, 



. NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. tii 

■with a strong desire for the like at home. The services of the Communion were crowned 
with unwonted influence. Life, inquiry, deep convictions, strong crying and tears — these 
became the familiar tidings of that favoured parish. Prayer meetings sprang up on every 
hand, and wonderful was it to the staid Presbyterian folk to hear, out of the lips of the 
unlearned and the ignorant, out of the mouths of babes and suckUngs in religion, prayers 
of deep import and heavenly power." 

After many fervent expressions of thankfulness for the conversions 
effected as above shown, Mr. Arthur goes on to say : — 

" At a prayer meeting in the meeting-house there were about three hundred persons. 
All were unexcited, though earnest. At the call of the minister, a young man, one of the 
recent converts, read a portion of Scripture, and delivered a short exhortation. Then the 
minister called on them to spend a little time in silent prayer. At first it seemed as if the 
moments would pass in deep silence ; but after a while, breathings began to be heard, 
loiv, subdued, but earnest — no voice, no tone, tw words ; but a breathing throughout the place, 
as if each one apart was breathing out the soul to God. That strange sound rose and came 
quicker till it almost rushed, and the place seemed all astir ivith suppressed but ouibursting 
prayer." 

Very different results soon grew out of these peaceful "unexcited" 
prayer meetings, as the reader will perceive if, passing over a few pages 
filled with descriptions of similar scenes and individual experiences, he 
takes up the thread of Mr. Arthur's narrative in June, 1859, two years later 
than the first "conversion" alluded to. We resume our extracts at the 
following point of advance : — 

" One who had felt the joy of pardoning love filling his own soul, and opening in his 
breast a little heaven, longed to see his mother, who lived in a neighbouring parish. He 
got one of his comrades to join him in earnest prayer for her conversion. After this, he 
went home to see if prayer had had any effect, and, to his joy and wonder, found that 
just loliile they had been praying, deep conviction had fallen up)onhis mother's soul ; she had 
sought mercy, and was now rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. This triumph of 
prayer was no sooner won than came the question, Where was his brother ? Aioay at a 
cockfight. Thither he followed him : there he found him, and, seizing him, he said, ' I 
have a message for you from the Lord Jesus.' This went to his heart ; he too fled for 
refuge to the open arms of the crucified Redeemer. His burden fell off, joy and peace 
took possession of his soul, and he rushed away to his minister, exclaiming, ' I am saved ! 
I am saved ! ' 

" Converts from Connor then came to tell the people of Ahoghill what the Lord had 
done for their souls. It was a strange thing to hear weavers, and stone-breakers, and 
butchers, and others unskilled in speech, pouring forth reverent and thoughtful prayers. 
It was more wonderful still to hear them tell how the Lord had sent his arrows through 
their souls. 

" ' You ask,' cries a convert, ' if you did find mercy, how you would know it ? Ah, 
you would know it very well, you would feel it.' And there his argument ended. But 
something was in these new-born souls — which tvent further than ten thousand arguments. 
The power of the blessed Spirit attended them. And then began those ovenvhelming affec- 
tions of body and mind together, which have resounded through the world, and made the 
Ulster Revival notorious to the religious and the curious alike. 

" In an opposite direction to Ahoghill lies the town of Ballyclare. There, one fair day, 
a slater coming home to dinner, was told by his \vife that there ^oas a man in the fair ivho 
had lost his reason ; for on the ' fair hill,' in his cart, he was praying aloud, and crying 
for mercy to his soul. The man went to see, and found it even so : it was a man from 
the neighbourhood of Broughshane, where the Revival had now begun ; and, as he came 
into the fair, such deep conviction of sin seized upon him, that he cared not for the eye 
of the crowd or the course of business, but felt he was going down into the gulf ; and he 
cried, ' Lord, save, I perish ! ' There ivas something in the cry which went to the soid of the 
slater, who had come to see the man ' out of his mind.' He felt. It is time for me to seek 
mercy too. 

" And, as if the Lord had said, ' Return to thine house, and show what great things 
the Lord had done unto thee,' he did return, and told his tale of redeeming love, and 
speedily the holy flame was lighted up in Ballyclare. 



112 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" At Hyde Park, a village a few miles from Belfast, I had the happiness of witnessing 
a wonderful work of revival, and, on inquiry as to its origin, found it traced to a lad from 
Ballyclare. He told how the Lord had converted him, and seeing a boy impressed by it, 
fell upon liis neck, and ' the affection of this boy seemed to break down the hearts of the 
people.' HowsHght a cause is followed by wonderful effects, when a mighty power of the 
Sj^irit operates ! 

" After nearly txoo years the first converts are steadfast, and the original seat of the 
revival more and more alive. Only within the last two months has it attracted public 
notice ; but in that time it has spread Hke fire, among country districts, market towns, and 
considerable cities. From Belfast to Coleraine, I have been permitted to see its effects, 
with wonder and deep adoration. I never read of anything equal at once in extent and 
transforming power, and hereafter it wUl be my endeavour to trace the work through 
some of those stages in which, instead of the tranquil and gradual progress which marked 
its early course, it burst forth with such manifestations as filled the newspapers, and 
became the all-absorbing topic of the country." 

As Mr. Arthur's views of revival practices are evidently dictated more 
in the spirit of orthodox sympathy with the actors than that of philosophic 
and deliberate investigation, we now tarn to the testimony of a still more 
impartial collator of revival incidents, in the person of Dr. Massie, a writer 
of eminence, whose excellent account of the Irish Revivals is thus rendered 
in Mr. W. M. Wilkinson's volume on this subject before alluded to. Dr. 
Massie says : — 

" We may remark, that the first noticeable cases of decided impression appeared in 
Ballymena, on the morning of Monday, the 16th of May ; and, up till noon of the fol- 
lowing Wednesday, the entire number was about thirty. These cases occurred chiefly in 
streets of an inferior description, and among the lower classes of the population. It 
would be impossible to ascertain the exact number so visited within the town — for cases 
are now to be found in every street, among all classes of the people. We know of one 
house wherein seven persons were impressed in the usual mysterious manner in the course 
of a single evening ; and the total number in BaUymena alone cannot be reckoned at less 
than three hundred. On the evening of Thursday, the 19th instant, the public excite- 
ment, particularly in SpringweU Street, was intense ; and we visited that locality for the 
express purpose of witnessing and reporting upon the phenomena. On one portion of the 
street we found an assemblage of at least two thousand people engaged in services of 
prayer and praise under the leader shii^ of laymen, six or seven houses elsewhere in the 
same street were crowded with people in every spot Avhere standing room could be 
obtained. The doors, and in some cases the windows, were open, and besieged by a throng 
of all classes anxious to hear the proceedings within. These houses we found to be the 
homes of ' stricken ' parties, who were then labouring under the influence of the shock in 
sundry stages of its operation. Some were in a state of very great weakness and partial 
stupor ; some were dreadfuUy excited, calling upon God for mercy, with an earnestness 
of which no intelligent investigator could doubt the reaUty for a single moment ; some 
were uttering exclamations of despairing agony ; others were pouring forth accents of 
heart-touching and adoring gratitude. In all cases they were surrounded by crowds of 
friends or comforters. They were prayed over, in some cases by a single leader, in others 
by several persons at the same moment, the stricken person sometimes uniting with them 
in language of glowing and continuous eloquence, and at other times by inter jectional ex- 
clamations of doubt, hope, faith, or joy unspeakable. During the earlier paroxysms the 
sufferers generally experienced considerable relief from sacred music; and hence the 
devotional exercises were frequently varied by the singing of psalms, in which all who 
were vsdthin heai'ing appeared to join most cordially. This description of the proceedings 
in one house may be regarded as applicable to all the others—for we visited them all, and 
were favoured with opportunities for investigation in seventeen different cases. 

" In the course of the evening we had an opportunity of witnessing cases of 
' impression ' in the earlier stages, the scene at one of which we shall attempt to describe. 
Having made our way up a narrow stau-case, crowded with anxious listeners, we entered 
a small apartment in which about twenty people of both sexes were grouped in various 
attitudes of deep attention or devotion. A neatly-attired young woman, apparently 
about twenty- two years of age, had been stricken an hour previously, and was supported 
in the arms of an elderly female, who was seated upon a low stool. The person impressed, 
appeared to be in a state of partial stupor, from which she was occasionally roused into a 
feeling of mental agony, depicted in heart-rending expressions of the countenance, and 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 113 

deep, low wailings of terrible despair. Her face was deadly pale, and her eyelids closed, 
except when partially raised by a convulsive paroxysm, and even then no part of the eye 
was visible, except a narrow line of white. Her pulse was intermittent and feverish, and 
her face and hands covered with perspiration. Occasionally she extended her arms with 
an action as if groping in the air, and at other times they were elevated high overhead, 
the hands clasped, and her features rigidly fixed into an expression of supplication, of 
which no language could convey an adequate idea. Her utterance was inter jectional and 
incoherent, mingled with sobs, moans, and agonizing expressions of despair, like the fol- 
lowing : — ■' Is there no hope ? ' ' Oh, my heart, my heart ! ' * Pardon, pardon ! ' ' Oh, 
Jesus, save me ! ' ' Oh, God, have mercy ! ' Beside this poor girl two men were standing 
and praying aloud alternately. 

" In other portions of the room hands were clasped, and tears silently streaming from 
many an eye, but our attention was irresistibly attracted to the movements of a young 
woman, evidently of the lower classes, who had been ' stricken ' two days previously, but 
had now recovered, and was bending over the sufferer with emotions exhibiting the 
deepest and most affectionate solicitude. She told her of Jesus, who was ever willing to 
save ; she repeated passages of Scripture that spoke of hope and consolation to the peni- 
tent ; and then burst forth into a lengthened and apparently impulsive prayer, well 
expressed and perfectly intelligent, but chiefly inter jectional. 

" Now, it may be asked, who was this earnest suppliant for peace and consolation to 
the afflicted sufferer ? Four days previous to the evening of which we write, she was a 
reckless and, apparently, God-forsaken young woman — a common street prostitute in Bally - 
mena ! Before we left the scene which we had thus attempted to describe, the impressed 
person had obtained considerable relief, and, at intervals, we observed that her lips were 
silently moving, as if in inward prayer. 

" In the meantime the movement was 'progressing with rapidity in every district of the 
surrounding country. Soon after breakfast hour on Saturday morning, six or seven young 
women became suddenly affected with all the usual symptoms, while engaged at work in 
the spinning factory at Eaceview. Intense excitement immediately ensued, the alarm 
soon became general, and within an hour twenty or thirty people of both sexes were found 
prostrate. The business of the entire estabhshment was interrupted, and, as a matter of 
necessity, the factory was closed at twelve o'clock. It was re-opened on Monday, but 
nearly half the ordinary number of hands were absent, and we understand that the busi- 
ness of Ballygarvy bleachworks has been seriously impeded, owing to a similar course. 
About six o'clock on the evening of Sunday week, a congregation, numbering fully four 
thousaad people, assembled in the open air, in front of the Presbyterian Church at 
Broughshane, where services were conducted by the Eev. Mr. Robinson and a number of 
Revival converts from other localities. Numerous and strongly-marked cases of sudden 
' conviction ' occurred among the audience, and several persons were carried into the 
church, from which place they were not in a condition for removal till midnight. The 
total number of persons affected on that occasion has been estimated at more than one 
hundred. On the same evening open-air prayer-meetings were held at Cullybackey and 
Straid. At Carniney, about a mile from Ballymena, the assemblage numbered fully two 
thousand, and they separated into large groups, for each of which there was a speaker. 
Numerous impressions occurred, and some of the parties so affected were removed from 
the ground on cars, followed, in some cases, by ranks of people singing psalms." 

" Dr. Massie gives the following extracts from a Ballymena correspondent : ' Last night, 
at a prayer meeting in Wellington Street Church, so crowded that the doors and win- 
dows were surrounded by a multitude who could not obtain admission, scenes occurred 
which bowed the heart with awe and solemn fear, as if the invisible world was opening to 
view. Attempts have been made to describe such scenes, but no one can describe them, 
they must be witnessed. During the time that Mr. Shaw was speaking, a person labour- 
ing under strong convictions of sin was carried out into the session-room. He was a 
person who had had convictions before, but on this occasion they returned in a manner 
most distressing to witness. He was a strong, middle-aged man ; but in the mysterious, 
half-conscious state in which he was, his soul actually seemed to the beholders as the 
battle-ground between the powers of light and darkness, filling his body with agony un- 
utterable. His cries for mercy, for salvation from Satan, and from his former sins, at 
first inarticulate, but at last so loud as to be heard over the body of the house — his clasped 
hands, as he knelt in prayer, with his face turned upwards, his eyes shut, every vein 
swelled almost to bursting, and the perspiration streaming down his face — his becoming 
calmer while listening to singing, and at last the torrents of tears running down his face, 
as he asked the 116th Psalm to be sung, showed the agonizing conflict that had been 
going on. Would that sceptics and those at a distance would at least suspend judgment 
until they saw one such case as this ! I would venture to say that if they had stood over 
that man in his agony and listened to his unutterable groanings for pardon and for peace, 
8 



114 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

if not convinced themselves, they would speak of the present movement, not with sneers or 
mockery, but with solemn and reverential awe. Further, with respect to this man, he 
has shown one of the best tests of sincerity, in giving up a lucrative business, when first 
convinced of sin, about three weeks ago. He feels, as many now do, that a Christian and 
a whiskey-seller are not compatible terms. During the time that this man was suffering 
so much last night, others, all children, were, irought in, or ivere seized with convictions in 
the room. The same cries for mercy, for deliverance from Satan, were repeated. During 
this scene in the session-room, the vast crowd in the church, led by one of the ministers, 
were praying, great mimbers of them audibly, for those under convictions.' " 

" On the 18th of June, the Observer of Ballymena remarks — ' In the town and neigh- 
bourhood of Ballymena the mysterious influence continues in unabated operation ; and 
numerous cases, accompanied by all the wonderful phenomena so frequently described, 
are occurring daily. At the Presbyterian church, the congregation was so numerous on 
Sunday last, that many persons were unable to obtain admittance, and four or five new 
cases of "conviction" occurred during pablic worship. In the evening an immense con- 
course of the community assembled for united prayer in a grass park to the west of the 
Galgorm Road. All the churches in Ballymena would not have contained the number 
present ; and the spectacle was one of the most solemn we have ever vritnessed. 

" ' The services were opened by the Rev. S. J. Moore ; after which addresses followed in 
succession from four or five lay converts. Their language was characterized by the 
unpolished but effective eloquence of nature, for they were thoroughly in earnest. Several 
strongly-marked cases of sudden conviction occurred, while these exhortations were in 
progress ; but the parties had been carried to a remote corner of the enclosure. The 
services were brought to a conclusion by the Rev. Mr. Moore ; but the audience did not 
separate, for strange and most exciting scenes immediately ensued. Suddenly one person, 
and then another, and another, in rapid succession, fell to the ground with piercing cries of 
mental agony. The mysterious iniluence loas at xoorh. It spread still further among the 
assemblage ; and within half-an-hour we found not fewer than twenty human beings 
stretched upon the grass, exhibiting emotions, both of soul and body, sufficient to appal 
the stoutest heart. In all cases it appeared as if every fibre of the heart, and every muscle 
of the body were im^ung ivith some excruciating torture. Then followed loud cries for the 
Redeemer's mercy, expressed in tones of anguish which no imagination can conceive or 
pen describe. 

" 'By some intelligent investigators it is believed that just in proportion to the fairness 
or immox'ality of previous character the visitation is more or less severe. The correctness 
of that opinion is liable to considerable doubt ; but we know that, from whatever cause, 
there is a great variety in the extent of suSering. Some cases are comparatively mild. 
But the majority of the cases of this evening were among the severest that we ever 
witnessed — and we have now seen hundreds of them. In general, the stricken parties 
were carried out from the pressure of the thronging multitude, to localities where they 
became objects of solicitude to smaller groups in other portions of the enclosure. At 
about half -past ten o'clock we reckoned nine circles or assemblages of this nature, in a 
single one of which we found eleven prostrate penitents, smitten to the heart, and fervently 
suptplicating God, for Christ's sake, to pardon their iniquities. 

" ' Over these parties, pious bystanders or some of the converted offered prayer. Other 
circles laboured to console the sufferers by singing appropriate hymns or psalms. In one 
of the circles we noticed a case of terrible severity, one in which visions of unspeakable 
horror must have been pictured to the imagination of the unhappy sufferer. A young 
woman lay extended at full length, her eyes closed, her hands clasped and elevated, and 
her body curved in a spasm so violent that it appeared to rest, arch-like, upon her heels and 
the back portion of her head. In that position she lay without speech or motion for several 
minutes. Suddenly she uttered a terrific scream, and tore handfuls of hair from her un- 
covered head. Extending her open hands in a repeUing attitude of the most appalling 
terror, she exclaimed, " Oh that fearful pit ! — Lord Jesus save me !" "I am a sinner, a most 
unAvorthy sinner — but oh, Lord, take him away, take him away !" " Oh, Saviour of 
sinners, remove him from my sight I " During this paroxysm three strong men "were hardly 
able to restrain her. She extended her arms on either side, clutching spasmodically 
at the grass, shuddering with terror, and shrinking from some fearful inward vision ; but 
she ultimately fell back exhausted, nerveless, and apparently insensible. How long she 
remained in that condition we are unable to say ; but we understand that she was treated 
with Christian sympathy, and removed from the field in safety before midnight. 

" ' This was an extreme case — not vrithout parallel, but certainly the most frightful 
that we have ever witnessed. We may remark that, three days afterwards, that woman 
was visited by a Christian friend, who had been a witness of her agony. He found her 
weak in body, but her mind was thoroughly composed, She was a new creature. The 
light of peace and love was beaming from her countenance, and joy reflected in her eyes as 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 115 

she told him of her perfect reconciliation with God, and her unwavering faith in the 
Redeemer. Now we do not pretend to explain the moving cause of these mysterious con- 
victions ; but we feel bound to say that such have been the results in every case brought 
under our notice during the last two months. In that respect there is not the slightest 
perceptible distinction in the influence, whether upon the old or the young, the rich or 
the poor, the learned or the unlearned. Whether the agonies are brief or lengthened, 
moderate or severe, the e/ec< is invariably the same — the fruit is love, peace, joy, tem- 
perance, and humility. Some of the " impressed " recovered ability to walk, but the 
greater number were supported by their friends, or carried away, and the ground was 
entirely vacated about half-past eleven o'clock.' " 

Painful as it is to narrate, and call upon common-sense readers to 
follow these narratives, it is imperatively necessary that the philosophic 
student of psychology should trace out the workings of the wonderful 
modern Spiritual outpouring, in all its various phases. It is not an unin- 
teresting subject of consideration moreover, to observe how the same 
influx operating upon different grades of rehgious thinkers, is estimated by 
the ruling powers of modern society. When an ignorant and half-savage 
multitude screams and writhes, and, in convulsive agonies, only to be paralleled 
in the cells of Bedlam, howls forth supplications "that God will pardon them" 
for imaginary crimes, the clergy fold their hands, look reverently on, and 
cry, " Behold the work of the Lord ! " When a broken-hearted mother 
listens to the telegraphic signals which assure her the child she mourns as 
lost, still lives and blooms in Paradise, and she dries her tears, and 
calmly goes forth to proclaim in m.odest and eloquent terms, the fact of 
immortality demonstrated — that same clergy holds up its hands in holy 
horror, and cries, " Behold the work of Satan ! " 

It is time that a discerning public should have the opportunity of pro- 
nouncing judgment upon both sides of these pictures, and of comparing the 
theologic with the Spiritual influences prevaiHng during the psychological 
upheavals of this century. 

With this view we shall present a few more examples of the celebrated 
Revival movement in Ireland. 

A Belfast paper, speaking of Messrs. Ewart's mill, Crumhn Road, says : — 

" On the morning of Tuesday, in one of the departments of a manufacturing concern, 
which employs a vast number of workers, male and female, nearly twenty girls were struck 
down, each in an instant, at their work, several becoming apparently insensible at once, 
and others uttering agonizing cries for mercy. The scene produced the greatest excite- 
ment throughout the entire works, and not a little alarm. Cars were provided for those 
who could not otherwise be removed to their homes, and the rest were assisted out of the 
premises, and taken to their respective places of abode. Orders were given that the work- 
rooms should be closed for the day ; hut some additional cases of visitation occurred efoen as 
the young women were leaving the -place and passing down stairs. Some of those attacked, 
have not yet been able to return to work. In most cases, on reaching home, the persons 
afifected, or their friends, sought spiritual, and some of them medical advice ; and when 
prayer had been offered up, in a majority of instances, speedy relief both from physical 
and mental sufiPering appeared to be produced. Several of the young women, we have 
been informed, have found peace, and a number are earnestly seeking it in prayer." 

" The Rev. J. O'Bi-ien, writing to. the Dublin Express, says : — 

" ' Mrs. Connor has been one of the most striking cases I have seen. Her bodily affec- 
tion was very severe. She screamed so as to be heard a quarter of a mile off. She said 
" she had felt heavy for some days, and had to hold up her heart,'^ putting her hands to her 
.stomach. She was still in a very weak state. Her husband, who had been a man of very 
bad character, had been converted also, but was now able to return to his work, and spent 
all his spare time in trying to convert others.' " 

" ' He speaks of another who " complained of a burning from her throat down to the 
bottom of her heart, and said that none but God could do her any good.' ' 

" The editor of the Ballymena Observer writes : — 



ii6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" ' We went to Ballyclare last night to attend a revival prayer-meeting, and, truly, I 
cannot understand it. I can only say that '' it is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our 
eyes." The scene when we arrived baffles all description. Imagine a large meadow, with 
an immense multitude of people in all attitudes— some praying, weeping, and cryipg for 
mercy ; others lying in utter helplessness, only able to utter feebly their entreaties for 
pardon, surrounded by groups of friends and strangers, all interceding for them, and urg- 
ing them to call on Christ ; and again, others with their faces beaming with a more than 
earthly light, listening to the speaker, with rapture, eloquently praising God ; fathers and 
mothers, tender children and strong men, the infant of a feio years, &nd the grey-haired 
woman, all equally struck, all equally earnest and eloquent. I saw stalwart men led away 
as if they were helpless childi-en ; and during the singing of one of the Psalms, a man 
beside us suddenly burst out into the most terrific cries, running round and round in 
circles in such a wild manner that it was dangerous tc be in his way — -when his cries 
changed suddenly into calls on the name of Jesus, and in a few minutes, after the most 
awful suffering, he fell, unable to stand or even speak. The public-houses are empty, all 
through the town. There is a prayer-meeting in almost every second house. Groups 
about the streets are praying or conversing on the all-engrossing topic. Public works are 
stopped in consequence of this strange and awful manifestation. All places are alike ; 
people are struck do-wn while following their daily avocations, resting on their beds, or 
traversing the streets. Among the people the visitation is sudden. The prayers and 
supplications for mercy by and for the afflicted are, oh, how awfully solemn and earnest ! 
From being one of the wildest toiuns in the neighbourhood, Ballyclare has become one of the 
most religious.' " 

" Dr. Carson, of Coleraine, who has written an excellent pamphlet on the Physical 
side of the Manifestations, gives the following : — 

" ' A poor child, I think about seven or eight years of age, came to my house one night 
at a late hour, and asked to see Mrs. Carson, who had gone to her bedroom. The inter- 
view was readily gi-anted. The child became affected. Her imploring and heart-rending 
cries for mercy, for she said she was a sinner on the brink of Hell, were so absolutely dis- 
tressing that I had to leave the house for a time, as I could not bear to listen to the 
melancholy tones of her infant voice. The expressions of deep despair on her countenance 
could not be imitated by the best actor I ever saw on the stage. It was a dreadful scene. 
In a few hours, the poor child got the most perfect relief, and her countenance appeared 
almost superhuman with delight. She then began to pray, and her prayer would have 
melted the heart of a rocL It was so jDOwerful, so fluent, and so full of thought, that it 
almost looked like inspiration in a child so very young.' " 

"The Rev. Dr. Spence, of the Poultry Chapel, giving the results of his personal 
experience, says : — 

" ' I saw by the countenance of many of them that they were conscious of an unusual 
joy. I spoke to several of them individually about their spiritual change and their 
Christian hope. In some cases I could find nx) intelligent foundation for their joy beyond 
the simple fact that they had been "struck," and by-and-by had found happiness ; but in 
other cases I found the most profound sense of sinfulness, and the most loving reliance on 
the Lord. I endeavoured, when I was brought into contact with those who had been 
" struck," to test in every case the character of the change which had been experienced. The 
result was various. Sometimes I could find no solid scriptural basis for the transition from 
sadness to joy ; often, on the other hand, was my own soul refreshed by the simple narra- 
tive of a deepening sense of personal unworthiness, and a growing experience of the 
Saviour's grace. There may be ground, however, to fear that in not a few cases feeling 
alone had to do with the change.' " 

" Dr. Massie relates of ' M. Napoleon Eoussel, who came to see the revival, that he was 
full of mistrust, and that he had decided " to surrender his judgment only to evidence, to 
let no one know his intention of publishing." He describes the physical crisis much as I 
saw it ; in general consisting ' in wringing of the hands, raising the arms, moving the 
limbs, or holding the stomach in the hands, in a state of violent despair, or at least of great 
excitement under a sense of sin.' '' 

"The Rev. Mr. Tocock writes : — 

"*I was requested to come to a young boy, in a most frightful state, stricken in a 
moment, and fearfully distracted, throwing out his arms, and kicking/ toith his feet, and 
dancing and shaking in great agitation. I told him to be a little calmer, for he would 
displease the Lord by his conduct ; urged him to look to Jesus, and to pray for pardon ; 
engaged with him in prayer, he repeating the words ; then we sung, and being aided by 
tivo young converts, he came to Jesus, and found peace very soon afterwards.' " 

" From BaUibay it is written : — 

" ' The church ministers are beginning to join us. Twenty-five fell in one church along 
with the minister. In another church, there is a hundred of the congregation and the 
minister converted.' " 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 117 

" The Rev. Mr. Steel, of Dairy, describing a meeting at Glengarnock, says : — 

" ' About ten o'clock, a person rose and said that we ought to kneel and engage in 
prayer. A working man then rose, and, with a heart like to burst, poured out a most 
earnest prayer to Almighty God. At the close of the prayer, the whole meeting seemed 
to be moved by an invisible power. Here and there were persons crying out for mercy, 
and strong men crying in such a manner as I had never heard before. I have seen 
persons suffering under various stages of cholera — I have seen much agony in my day, 
but never such a sight as this.' " 

''The Ballymena Observer, describing similar cases, says : — 

" ' On Sunday evening last, an assemblage numbering 2,000 people, many of them from 
Ballymena, congregated at a prayer meeting in the open air near KUconriola. The third 
speaker had nearly concluded his exhortations, when a case of sudden impression, with all 
the ordinary symptoms, occurred among the audience. The patient was a young woman 
of the neighbourhood, who had been slightly affected some evenings before, at a meeting 
near Carncoagh. Some excitement immediately ensued, and other cases folloived in rapid 
succession. Within half an hour fully twenty people of the audience were laid prostrate ; 
some of them utterly helpless, and for a time unable to utter anything but incoherent 
expressions of bodily pain and mental agony. The excitement now became intense, and 
the scene that ensued baffles all power of description.' " 

" Mr. Wilkinson, on p. 91 of his volume, ' The Revivals,' says : — ' Let us read the 
following, which we quote from the Ballymena Observer : — 

" ' The most extraordinary event of that evening occurred in the case of a mere child, 
only seven years of age ; a poor barefooted girl, cleanly but indifferently clothed. Without 
the slightest appearance of any previous agitation, she was struck prostrate in a single 
moment. For a time her body was found to be perfectly rigid, and her face colourless. On 
partial recovery she clasped her hands, and, looking up, exclaimed in low accents, " Lord 
Jesus, have mercy upon me, and bring me to the foot of thy cross ! " For a considerable 
time she continued to repeat — but in an undertone, " Jesus !'' "Jesus !" "Jesus !" Her 
fascinated and soul-absorbing look was fixed, far away beyond all spheres ; and the mild, 
unclouded spiritual light of that unwavering gaze into the heavens will never be forgotten 
by those who witnessed it. We certainly never saw any condition so manifestly preter- 
natural ; nor any result so nearly approaching to a practical illustration of the poet's 
beautiful, though fanciful, idea of the " Angel's whisper to a slumbering baby." The 
trance-like attitude of body, and the rapt expression of her eye, appeared to favovtr the 
supposition that a world of glory, invisible to other mortals, had been unveiled to her inner 
sight, and that, for a temporary 'period, she had been admitted to communion ivith the spirits 
of the just made perfect. We understand that the girl was restored to nearly her ordinary 
condition in about an hour. Phenomena analogous to the foregoing came under our 
personal observation at a house in Alexander Street, in the afternoon of Tuesday last — 
and it is worthy of special notice that the party affected had never been at any of the 
revival meetings. We there found an interesting girl, less than eight years of age, and we 
ascertained that her general character is that of a shy, intelligent, and truthful child — 
that she is a pupil in the infant department of Guy's free school. When we first saw her 
she was extended upon a pallet, and slowly recovering from a somnambulic trance, into 
which she had been instantaneously stricken about five hours previously when in the act 
of preparation for school. For some time subsequently to the visitation, her eyes were 
fixed on vacancy, her hands clasped, and her lips moving as in silent prayer. Her arms 
were frequently elevated, as if to grasp some object immediately in view ; and, on one 
occasion, she clasped her father's hands, and pointing upward, motioned him to look and 
pray. At another time she called upon the bystanders to raise her up, in order that she 
might take hold of some glorious object presented to her imagination. On recovery from 
this state, she insisted that she had been in the company of superhuman beings in a world 
of light and blessedness ; and, to the utter amazement of her parents, she affirmed that she 
had there intuitively recognized her infant brother, who had died eleven months after his 
birth, and Jive years before she ivas born ! ' " 

" The following remarkable case is given in a Coleraine paper about the same time. It 
occurred at Kilconriola : — 

" ' The person affected was a mamed woman, of middle age. She appeared to be greatly 
excited and feverish ; her pulse was quick, there was a hectic tinge upon the cheeks, her 
eyes were bloodshot, and her face was streaming with perspiration, and for the space of fifty- 
six hours she was unable to taste anything but water. After the first four hours of rack- 
ing pain and incessant cries for mercy, she remained prostrate for nearly three days in the 
condition which we have described. During the prostration of this woman her house was 
visited by hundreds of the neighbouring people. She had never been taught to read or 
pray, and was unable to distinguish one letter of the alphabet from another, yet she prayed 
with intense fervency, and exhorted the people to repentance with astonishing fluency and 



ii8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

accuracy of speech. This case, like many others, was accompanied by visionary scenes^ — 
illusions, certainly, but of a very extraordinary character. Among other things she main- 
tained that a Bible, traced in characters of light, was open before her, and, that, although 
unable to read, a spiritual poioer had endowed her with capacity to comprehend the meaning 
of every word in it. It is an undoubted fact that she repeated with literal accuracy, and 
as if reading from the volume, a very large number of quotations from the Old and New 
Testament, applying them in an appropriate manner in connection with the prayers wherein 
she was engaged ! but these perceptions gradually faded in her progress towards recovery, 
and entirely disappeared on restoration to her ordinary health.' " 

" The Rev. J. Marrable narrates the following, as occurring under his own eyes : — 
" ' I was particularly struck with the following case : N. C., not eighteen years of age, 
was in the act of holding a conversation ivith an invisible Being tvhom she called an "angel." 
I shall not attempt to describe this scene, or the words she uttered ; but when, in about 
half an hour, she awoke out of the trance, to see many faces looking in amazement at her, 
with tears flowing from all eyes, her tongue, which could scarcely articulate plainly before, 
became loosened, and in the most eloquent manner she addressed all present on the subject 
of salvation, with an expression of holy joy and gratitude beaming in her intelligent coun- 
tenance. She continued for several minutes in such eloquent strains that all present were 
compelled to admit that they had never seen or heard anything like it before. I ivould 
myself have gone a thousand miles to see this one case, and did not think it possible that the 
human countenance could be lit up with so sweet and happy an expression of delight.' " 
" Dr. Massie introduces the following narrative in these words : — 
" ' On Monday evening we called to visit a little girl in the Commons, called M. E. R. 
(aged fourteen), who had been labouring under conviction for some days previous. We 
found her in a melancholy, depressed state, and after conversing with her for a little, we 
intimated that we would engage in singing and prayer before leaving her. While singing, 
she fell speechless at our feet, when it was evident to all that she had been deprived of 
both speech and sight ; her mind, however, was active as ever, and her sense of hearing 
unimpaired. During the forenoon, Drs. Macaldie and Clarke visited her, and expressed 
their opinion that none could heal her but the Physician of souls. Later in the day, the 
dispensary doctor visited her, and endeavoured to restore her by applying remedies to the 
body, but without effect. About half- past three in the afternoon of the next day, we again 
visited her, and sung, " Lo ! He comes with clouds descending," and ere this hymn was 
finished, her tongue was loosed, he reyes we reopened, and she joined us in praising God, 
This was about four o'clock on the evening of Tuesday — she having been eighteen hours 
deprived of sight and speech.' " 
" Dr. Massie proceeds : — 

" ' In compliance with numerous appHcations upon the subject, we proceed to notice 
other recent phases of manifestation not less astonishing. Two young unmarried women 
(whom we shall call Jane, aged eighteen, and Ellen, aged twenty-three) reside at a locality 
about two miles distant from Ballymena, and within three hundred yards of each other. 
Both were apparently in good health ; and about a month ago they were stricken with 
" conviction," accompanied by agonies of conscience and nervous excitement. It would 
appear, that a species of sympathy became established between them in such a manner, 
that whatever affected the one party was sure to exercise a corresponding influence upon 
the other. On Monday, about two o'clock in the afternoon, Ellen, whilst busily engaged 
at work in her own house, suddenly exclaimed that Jane had become ill — said that her 
mind told her so, and that she must go and visit her. With that intent she left the house ; 
and on entering that of her companion, found that she had just fallen into a trance — 
deaf, dumb, and motionless. Within a minute afterwards, Ellen had fallen upon the 
floor in a precisely similar condition, and both remained in that state and -position for fully 
three hours. Both recovered at the same moment, and immediately on their recovery they 
were separated ; Ellen being forthwith taken to her own house, where she feU upon her 
knees, and was engaged in prayer for half an hour. To the great surprise of her relatives, 
she then affirmed that, precisely at four o'clock on the following evening, she would 
become deaf, dumb, blind, and without power of motion in one side of her body, for the 
space of six hours, and that she should be restored to her natural condition at ten o'clock. 
On being asked how she could know that she would be visited in such a manner, she 
replied, " I cannot explain how I know it ; but my mind tells me that it will surely be as 
I have said." Every effort was made to remove the impression from the mind of the 
party thus affected ; and care was taken that Jane should have no information of what 
had been predicted in reference to her companion. Ellen continued at her ordinary work, 
and apparently in her usual health, throughout the forenoon of Tuesday ; and the hand 
of the house clock was secretly put back fifteen minutes in the course of the day. 
Precisely at the moment when the clock indicated that it wanted a quarter to four, but 
when the real tinae was fifteen minutes later, Ellen's arms dropped, her eyes closed, and she 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



119 



fell from her chair without speech or motion, and in a state of absolute insensibility ! 
She' was carefully laid upon a bed ; and on examination it was found that the joints of her 
right arm and leg were perfectly immovable, and rigid as iron. The excitement among 
the people of the house was naturally very great ; but it was doubled in intensity when 
intelligence arrived that Jane had fallen into a state exactly resembling that of Ellen, 
precisely at the same moment that Ellen had been thus affected. 

" ' In this abnormal condition both women remained for a period of six hours, and both 
awoke to consciousness, and in the full possession of all their faculties, precisely at the 
same moment. At five minutes before ten, Ellen's rigid arm regained its natural condition, 
and she was observed to raise her hand and lay it gently across her breast ; but up till 
the stroke of the predicted hour, no other change became perceptible. Before the remain- 
ing strokes of ten had sounded from the clock, she was fully awake ; and her first excla- 
mation, amid a house then crowded with anxious visitors, was, '' Christ is my Saviour ! 
He is all and in all ! " It may appear incredible, but the fact is established beyond all 
controversy, that these identical words were the first uttered by Jane in her own house, 
three hundred yards distant, as she awoke to consciousness at the same moment ! ' " 

Dr. Massie relates with great minutiae of detail, many additional cases of 
a similar character to those already given, together with instances in which 
the " stricken ones," both male and female, were poor ignorant people — 
some of them very yomig children, — servants, and workmen, — who could 
neither read ?ior write, yet, these persons in their " trances," did intelligently 
read out consecutive verses, and sometimes whole chapters of the Bible, 
and exhort, pray, and sing, with a fervency and eloquence, not to be equalled 
by the best cultured ministers of religion. The last cases which we can 
cite are as follows : — 

"The Rev. R. Gemmell, after saying, 'With regard to the bodily manifestations, I can 
give no opinion, nor do I like to hear any opinion, as I beheve no man can give any satis- 
factory explanation,' gives the following : — 

" ' A young lad about sixteen years of age was struck down in his own house. It took 
four strong men to hold him, to prevent him from dashing his brains out on the floor. He 
continued in this state for several hours. When he recovered, he had lost the poiver of 
one of his sides, and ivas unable to titter a word distinctly. The third day after, I visited 
him, about three o'clock ; he was still in the same state, but, to my utter astonishment, 
when standing at the door at seven o'clock, he came running forward, and shook hands 
with me, and said, " Sir, I am now quite well !" ' " 

" Dr. Massie says : — 

" ' One fearful case was specified to me of an infatuated scoffer, who professed to fall 
down as an awakened and stricken sinner, while a companion, as depraved, ran to request 
the attendance of a servant of God. When they came to the spot where the feigned 
penitent was lying, they found him dead.' " 

" The Rev. Mr. Moore says : — 

" ' In my own congregation five or six cases — and some of them very painful — have 
occurred. We hear occasionally of dreams and visions — the mere drapery of the ivorlc, 
and the effect of its deep and intense reality — but though beautiful and interesting in 
themselves, such things are not made much of here, and the less the better.' " 

" At Paisley, in September, similar cases were frequent. The Rev. Mr. Macgregor 
says : — 

" ' Among the young women affected, two were for a time deaf and dumb, and while 
in this state, their countenances indicated, from their expression, the most joyous 
happiness. Many of them had been dreaming dreams and seeing visions. It was the 
case that, tvherever the revivals had arisen, they had dreams and visions, and they were 
to be regarded as evidence of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.' " 

" The Rev. Hugh Hunter writes : — 

" ' It is now nearly five weeks since the Lord's work commenced in good earnest in 
this neighbourhood. It was going on amazingly in the neighbouring county of Antrim. 
Every day brought new tales of trances, sleeps, visions, dreams and miracles ; such as, that 
persons ivho never Jcneio a letter of the alphabet when aivake coidd read the Bible distinctly, 
sing psalms and hymns, preach, atud pray with ease, eloquence, and fluency.' " 

" The Rev. J. Whitsitt, of Drum, Monaghan, writes to a friend : — 

" ' It was true the report which you heard. At one of our meetings for prayer, at 
which there were a number of convictions, a dark cloud formed on the ceUing, and, in the 



I20 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

course of a few minutes, a number of forms burst out. One in particular was of human 
appearance, which passed and repassed across all the lights, and descended to the pew in 
which a young woman was rejoicing. The appearance lasted for three minutes, or more, 
produced no terror, but joy, especially among the converts. All present did not see it. 
Perhaps 300 saw it, and can testify to the reality. I cannot tell what it was ; the 
substance is in heaven, and will not be visible until the time when " every eye shall 
see Him." ' " 



CHAPTER XV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 

Summary of Conflicting Opinions Concerning the Irish Revivals. 

It cannot be supposed that the mighty wave which had surged over the 
"stricken" subjects of the Irish Revival, could pass away without calling forth 
an immense array of diverse opinions from various leading minds, concern- 
ing the origin and significance of the wonderful movement. 

As a general rule the attempts to find an adequate cause for the marvels 
which flooded the land, during the Revival frenzy, may .be classified thus : — 

1. The work proceeds from "the Devil." 

2. From the Holy Ghost. 

3. From interested and artful professional Revival preachers. 

4. From mesmerism, hysteria, and other unknown physical agents. 
About the time when the Irish Revivals were at their height, some scenes 

of a kindred character, though conducted on a more limited scale, and 
promptly checked by the officiating ministers of the time, were proceed- 
ing in some of the rural districts of England, and amongst the lowest of 
the East-end ragged schools of the metropolis. An able writer in the 
London Sunday Times thus comments on scenes of this character, of which 
he claims to have been an eye-witness in a ragged school in St. Giles' on 
the preceding Sunday. 

" Here are one hundred and fifty ragged, ill-fed, uneducated little boys and girls, from 
six to fourteen, kept until after ten at night to listen to a ' deeply impressive ' account of 
the doings in Ireland, in all their agonising details. "Was there no mercy in the heart of 
the speaker ? No sense of childhood's weakness ? No thought of the Divine Justice ? 
And there they were rolling upon the floor, crying out until two in the morning about 
their sins. Great God ! how art thou insulted. Their sins ! Why surely, if God arose 
in His anger it would be, not to crush down and agonise these little friendless, hungry, 
orphaned children, only six years old, who cannot comprehend the meaning of such 
subjects, but He would rise against the high and the mighty, the men of wealth and 
statesman power, who, through neglecting their duty, have left these little ones to become 
the victims of hunger and cold, and hence also the victims of our hard laws, and, to them, 
cruel institutions. Comments upon such mockery and cruelty are needless." 

And again : — " I am not dealing unjustly in thus speaking. I see the poor little girl 
crying in the Irish churchyard ; I see the young women rolling in agony upon the Irish 
meadows ; I see the ignorant men, the hysterical women, and the fear-struck children in 
the Irish churches, with horrible anxiety pictured upon their terror-stricken countenances ; 
and I see the poor little boys and girls in the St. Giles' refuge rolHng upon the floor, then- 
young hearts filled with fear through the story of Irish madness which, without stint or 
mercy, had been poured into their ears. Yes, I see all this, and more than this — more 




v^ 



? 




THE Brothers Ira & W¥ Davenport 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 121 

than can now be told ; and then, while listening to the wild screams which burst from 
the agonized hearts of an ignorant and frenzied people, I hear also, and blended with the 
screams, the voices of the ' holy men ' — voices of the leaders and teachers in our spu-itual 
Israel — raised as in thanksgiving to God for aU this agony, which, either in their blindness 
or through their hypocrisy, they dare to call ' His great mercy.' I hear them pray that 
the same ' blessing ' may be granted unto us ; and, from aU this, what is it possible to 
conclude other than that, if they are in earnest, then are they blind also ? but, whether 
earnest or not, they are endeavouring to inflict upon England one of the heaviest curses 
that could descend upon a people whose ancestors won freedom alike on the fields of civil 
and ecclesiastical conflict." 

Mr. Wilkinson, in his excellent work on " The Irish Revivals," says : — 

" Archdeacon Stopford of Meath is the champion of the physical mode of accounting 
for the Revival, whose arguments are the best poised, and sufficiently comprehend those of 
others having the same views. He does not, however, fail to see 'much good in the 
movement.' He says, ' Even a stranger cannot fail to be struck with the earnest concern 
about religion which appears to pervade the people ; as I listened to a street preacher — the 
best sermon which I heard in Belfast — it was impossible not to be impressed with the 
earnest and reverent expression of countenance in all the working men and lads who 
gathered round, perhaps one hundred and fifty in number ; faces so earnest I never saw 
before in any congregation. From house to house I saw much of the same feeling.' " 

The question of hysteria has been so widely canvassed, that it is worth 
while to present the argument as it appears in one of Dr. Carson's 
excellent letters. Dr. Carson says : — 

" I see a good deal of time and labour have been spent in asserting, over and over 
again, that the physical manifestations are neither more nor less than hysteria. Were it 
not that the public might be misled by the plausible and ostentatious statements which 
have been put forward on the subject, I would not think of occupying time with its 
consideration. 

" There is no reason why the country should be free from hysterical cases now, more 
than at any other time. Hence,'as might be anticipated, some cases of hysteria are to he met 
ivith in every district ivhere the Revival has appeared. But the man who will confine his 
observations to these cases, or confound them with the Revival manifestations, has but a 
poor capacity for the observation of facts. The fact is, the Revival and hysteria have 
scarcely any symptoms in common. Any person in the Revival district may easily convince 
himself of this fact by turning to the article ' Hysteria,' in the first work on the 'Practice 
of Medicine ' he can lay his hands on. To enter fully into the distinguishing marks of 
these two affections would extend this letter to an unreasonable length ; but there are 
two or three features which require to be noticed, and which are capable of being judged 
by all parties. . . . Hysteria is almost entirely confined to the female sex. It is very 
common in the female, but so extremely rare in the male, that the late Dr. Hooper, and 
the present Dr. Watson, of London, in their immense practice, have seen only three cases 
each, which they could at all compare to hysteria, and these cases occurred in debilitated 
subjects. ... In regard to the Revival, it occurs chiefly amongst the lower and 
middle classes of society, who are obliged to earn their subsistence by their daily labour. 
It is to be found as readUy amongst the hardy inhabitants of country parishes and moun- 
tain districts, as in towns and sities. If all ages are included, there are very nearly as 
many males aff'ected by it as females. I have seen and known of an immense number of 
instances in which the strongest, the stoutest, most vigorous, healthy, and lion-hearted men in 
the country have been struck doivn like children, and have called, with the most agonising 
entreaties, for mercy for their souls. How could all this be hysteria 1 " 

Dr. Watson, an eminent medical practitioner of London, who spent 
some time in personally examining the condition of many of the Revivalists, 
arrives at the conclusion that the principal source of the movement is a 
physical, though unknown agent, and his views are given in the following 
remarks : — 

" I now fearlessly state, that, in my opinion, there is a physical, as well as a Spiritual, 
agent concerned in the Revival. There does not appear to me to be any other rational way 



122 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

of accounting for the facts. Whatever I may have been disposed to think at first, I am 
now fully satisfied the symptoms of a Revival case do not correspond to the efiects which 
are manifested as the result of mere mental impressions. The unearthly tone of subdued 
entreaties, and the partial prostration of muscular power in the individual afiected, are 
very different from the wild screams, and convulsive paroxysms, which arise from sudden 
mental anguish ; and we cannot consistently refer them to a sudden view of spiritual 
danger, because the same siidden view of spiritual matters has been revealed to thousands of 
individuals of different constitutions, at different periods of the history of the ivoiid, without 
prod/iicirCg the like results. 

" The explanation by mere mental impressions will not satisfy a close thinker in regard 
to them. There must be a special physical agent concerned. 

" This view is greatly strengthened by the way in which the Eevival has travelled. It 
has foUowed a steady, gradual, and uninterruped course from parish to parish, and district 
to district. It has travelled almost like a loave. Again, it was observed that the most 
illiterate convert, ivho had himself been physically affected, had far more poiver in producing 
the manifestations in the audience, than the most eloquent speaker who could address them. 
There did not seem to be any proportion between the words uttered by the speakers and 
the results produced. It looked more like a physical effect produced by individual on 
individual than anything else. 

" The idea of exclusive spii-ituality in the Revival would involve us in endless diffi- 
culties^ which can all be avoided by the simple idea of the double agency. If we do not 
adopt this view, what are we to do with those cases of deafness, dumbness, blindness, 
extraordinary visions, and prophesying, wliich have occurred in some localities ? They 
are not either directly or indirectly the effects of the Holy Spirit. They are entirely 
owing to the effects of the physical agent on the brain and nervous system. 

" In regard to the nature of the physical agent, I have no hesitation in acknowledging 
my utter ignorance. I know of nothing to correspond exactly with it in the whole range 
of philosophy. 

"No person but the man who has witnessed them could have any idea of the awful 
effects produced by a number of Revival cases. A scene like the one which took place on 
the night in which the new hall in Coleraine was first fiUed with these cases has, perhaps, 
never been equalled in the world. It was so like the day of judgment, when sinners 
would be calling on the mountains and the rocks to hide them from the storm of God's 
wrath, that it struck terror to the heart of the most hardened and obdurate sinner." 

As the Evangelical views of the causes operating to produce these Revivals, 
have already been sufificiently hinted at to make the reader aware that a large 
number of Ministers of the Gospel attributed the above movement to the 
direct action of the " Holy Ghost," it only remains to call attention to the 
very suspicious way in which those peculiar demonstrations were received, 
which in the form of trances, dreams, visions, and prophecies, seemed to be 
all too dangerously allied to the M^e noir of every denomination, namely 
modern Spiritualism, a development which might well have been unknown 
to the poor illiterate subjects of the Irish Revivals, but which was by no 
means either neiv or strange to the better-informed Doctors, Lawyers, 
Divines, &c., &c., who watched the Spiritual epidemic of the unmanageable 
Irish Revivals. 

Mr. W. M. Wilkinson opens up this question with significant force when 
he says : — 

" What are we to think of that class of phenomena, of wliich there are so many 
instances, in which the converts have fallen into swoons and trances, and into those 
peculiar states of the organism in which they have seen and described visions of angels 
and devils — of heaven and of hell — and which were so common, ' that almost every girl 
now struck in Belfast had visions, and would be greatly disappointed if she had not.' 
' There are also very many astonishing statements and events which, some years ago, and 
in other circumstances, would have been called clairvoyance by those who believed that 
there was such a mode of obtaining knowledge.' Others, again, who could not read a 
word in their ordinary state, had a faculty or power, when in this wondrous state, of 
perceiving in letters of light, and reading whole pages from the Bible ; others of seeing 
things and persons at distances beyond the ken of natural eyes. . . . 

" Now, how it has come about we know not, but thesi3 phenomenal aspects of the 
Revival have brought down upon it, its bitterest opponents, and in view of them, the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 123 

whole movement has been characterised by some reUgious critics as the direct work of 
Satan, and by the more sceptical as a work of imposture, or as the product of diseased 
imagination. Here, again, it is to be noted, that at first there are not so many words 
used against the calm and quiet part of the awakening ; but when it came to pass that 
its subjects were seers and seeresses no words are strong enough for its condemnation." 

Again, Mr. Wilkinson in commenting on the pyschical aspect of this 
movement, and the various phenomena (far too numerous to admit of 
farther description) which corresponded with the manifestations of 
Spiritualism, says ; — 

" In attempting to gather up facts of this nature at a distance from the places of their 
occurrence we find, of all those who could not in fairness omit noticing them, there is not 
one who gives them a kindly welcome. Several suppress them altogether, the others have 
to apologize for them in the best way they can. 

" The excellent Minister at Connor, when in the great excitement of prostrations and 
ecstatic phenomena, some similar cases were threatened amongst his flock, set his face 
against them altogether. Others are blamed for not having followed his plan, which had 
the good efiect of preventing them. We shall see that they were amenable to this treat- 
ment, and it is a suggestive fact for our consideration. 

" In the early days of the excitement arising from these cases, some were made public 
through the newspapers, and there are others to be found in some of the narratives, but 
every day they become more difficult of access, as mention of them is seldom made, and 
it is only from occasional glimpses that we see how common they were — so common, 
indeed, that they occurred in the majority of the stricken cases, and those who did not 
have visions, or some of the other extraordinary phenomena accompanying their pros- 
tration, complained of the deficiency of the Holy Spirit, and feared that their conversion 
was not complete. . . . 

" We could have wished that these cases had been as fully stated and as largely 
investigated as the others, for they form a chapter in the book of man that is worthy the 
most serious and earnest consideration." 

We have already extended the notices of this singular movement to so 
great a length, that we turn, though most reluctantly, from the many 
suggestive arguments adduced by the author of " The Revival " to show 
that a great magnetic wave, contagious as magnetism ever is in its effects, 
world-wide in its centres of evolution, and purely spiritual in its source, 
underlies these Irish Revivals, just as surely as it does the doings of the 
Polter Gheist in Germany, the manifestations of clairvoyance in France, or 
the Rochester Knockings in America. 

Who can doubt that if this Revival had occurred on Mahometan ground, 
the visionists would have seen Houris and paradises ; screamed for Mahomet, 
and sought through him reconciUation with Allah ? Occurring in a land, 
the very atmosphere of which was saturated with Calvinistic ideas, and 
governed by a Calvinistic priesthood, the great magnetic influx which poured 
into the hearts and minds of a naturally impulsive and susceptible race of 
people, inevitably partook of the dominant religious idea ; and this was so 
strengthened by the powerful influence of Revival preachers, that it was 
only now and then that angel faces could look through the theological veil 
of terror, in which the peasantry were enshrouded, or in rare cases, that 
true Spiritual mediumship could be unfolded, and triumph over the 
unreasoning ecstasies of religious gloom and mystery. 

The sunbeam which gives life to the rose and lights up the blue eye of 
the violet, quickens the heap of corruption into the life of the foul reptile, 
and stinging insect. The sun of spiritual existence shines on the just and 
the unjust, and quickens, but creates nothmg. 

Thus we may realise by careful research into the fanaticisms of the 
Irvingites, the abominations of Mormonism, the unnatural asceticisms of 
Shakerism, and the frenzied agonies of Irish Revivalism that " all are but 
parts of one stupendous whole" — differences of adjni?iistration, but the same 
spirit ivorki?ig in all. 



124 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN. — SECOND PERIOD. 

In searching amongst the scattered records of Spiritual manifestations in 
England, the historian cannot fail to come to the conclusion that there are 
two well-defined sources of power which antedated in point of time the 
introduction of that systematic mode of telegraphy practised by the 
American mediums who commenced to visit this country in 1852. 

The first of these was the very general outpouring of Spiritual manifesta- 
tions noted in preceding chapters, and occurring in the form of haunting 
isolated phenomena, and Religious Revivals. 

The second was Animal Magnetism, which, by preparing the world for 
the study of occult phenomena, and unfolding in many organisms the 
potencies of clairvoyance and other Spiritual endowments, paved the way 
for the more pronounced and comprehensive demonstrations of Spiritual 
Mediumship. 

From the year 1820 to 1840, numerous gentlemen of learning and high 
social standing, openly avowed themselves disciples of Mesmeric philo- 
sophy, and practised with success healing by Animal Magnetism. 

As experiments of this character were very often productive of clair- 
voyance, prevision, trance speaking, and even Spiritual seership, a wide- 
spreading interest began to arise concerning these mysterious potencies. 
About the year 185 1, a Mesmeric Infirmary was estabUshed in Wimpole 
Street, of which Drs. EUiotson, Ashburner, Wilson, Haddock, Mrs. De 
Morgan, and numerous other ladies and gentlemen became patrons and 
supporters. In this institution, patients were treated by magnetic pro- 
cesses, and in many instances cures were effected of cases deemed hopeless 
by the ordinary methods of medical practice. 

For some years previous to the formation of this establishment, the 
advocates of Mesmeric philosophy had conducted an excellent periodical 
entitled the Zoist, in which hundreds of notable experiments were recorded, 
and the phenomena as well as the facts of magnetic practices were 
carefully detailed. 

In view of the persistence with which the columns of the secular journals 
are open to all manner of communications antagonistic to new discoveries, 
and new ideas, and closed against their advocates, the publication of the 
Zoist which was continued for many years, and supported by an able staff 
of editors and contributors, will be understood to have been the principal 
means of widening the sphere of knowledge on occult subjects, and 
preserving many valuable records which would otherwise have been lost to 
the world. 

In the initiatory numbers of this journal, Dr. ElHotson, one of its earliest 
and most distinguished supporters, alleges, that Mesmerism as a recognised 
"science," was first established in England in 1828, through the influence 
of an Irish gentleman, a Mr. Chevenix, who after a long residence in Paris, 
where he had witnessed, and personally assisted at a number of experiments. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. .125 

finally began to practise on his own account in Ireland, where he found a 
fine field for his operations amongst the susceptible peasantry of that 
country. 

Drs. McKay, Peacock, Cotter, Gooch ; Mr. Smith, surgeon to the 
Coldstream Guards ; Professor Gregory of Edinburgh, Drs. Elliotson and 
Ashburner of London, Dr. John Wilson, physician at Middlesex Hospital, 
and many gentlemen of equal standing in their profession, who had avowed 
themselves advocates of Mesmeric practices, succeeded, both in creating a 
wide-spread public interest in their philosophy, and in awakening the most 
relentless spirit of antagonism from those who thought proper to range 
themselves on the opposite side of the question. 

To those who realise with the author, that Mesmerism has been — humanly 
speaking — the corner-stone upon which the Temple of Spiritualism was 
upreared, the following notice of some of the curious experiments recorded 
in the early numbers of the Zoist, will be of interest. 

Dr. Ashburner, in reviewing a pamphlet written by Dr. John Wilson of 
Middlesex Hospital entitled, " Trials of Animal Magnetism on the Brute 
Creation/' says : — 

" Dr. Wilson successfully magnetized fish, birds, and savage beasts. I was with him 
on one occasion at the Surrey Zoological Gardens while honest Mr. Cross was proprietor 
of the menagerie. The great male elephant was put into a deep sleep by the strenuous 
and energetic passes of my colleague. The keeper told me, * The Doctor off with his coat, 
wrought like a Trojan, and got the old animal into a sound sleep and no mistake.' 

" Mr. Cross had a very savage and irascible hyena. Dr. Wilson mesmerised him, and 
it was amusing to see the delight of the fierce creature at the Doctor's approach." 

In the pages of the Zoist will be found an answer to the sneer with which 
those readers will peruse the above-named experiments who — having found 
their efforts to stamp out unwelcome facts ineffectual — proceed to depreciate 
their value by the imbecile query, "What is the use of it?" The icse of 
Mesmerism is shown, even in the early stage of the movement of which we 
are writing, by the facts that the Mesmerisers recorded ; namely ; well 
attested cures of typhus fever in its last and most hopeless stages; con- 
sumption, dropsy, bronchitis, all manner of nervous disorders, besides many 
surgical cases. 

Amongst the latter, is described the perfect cure of a woman, employed 
in the Hospital at Hoddesden, superintended by the celebrated writer 
Mrs. Ellis, — who was suffering from a severe case of ovarian tumour, for 
which in fact she was on the point of submitting to a dangerous and 
doubtful operation. Dr. Ashburner hearing of her dilemma, persuaded 
her to try Mesmerism, through the instrumentality of which, she became 
entirely cured. Several other instances of a similar kind are recorded in 
the Zoist, including one, of malignant cancer., — a cure so thoroughly well 
proved, and of such a remarkable character, that we would refer the curious 
reader to its full details, which may be found given by Dr. ElHotson in the 
6th volume of the Zoist, page 213. Mesmeric practices received a strong 
impulse, especially in the unfoldment of remarkable psychological powers, 
in the year 1849, by the visit to England of two renowned French clair- 
voyants, Messrs. Alexis Didier, and Marcellet. 

Through numerous experiments conducted with these gentlemen, the 
Magnetizers were enabled to prove, not only that disease could be cured, 
but that mental power of a highly exalted and wonderful character could be 
evolved in the magnetic sleep. 



126 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The French clairvoyants were adepts in the examination of obscure 
diseases, in tracing lost, hidden, and distant objects, also in the faculty of 
mind reading. 

The powers thus displayed in the magnetic sleep, were found to be more 
general than had hitherto been supposed ; hence, clairvoyance, in addition 
to the healing faculty, became another horn of the dilemma with which the 
materialistic opponents of the new philosophy found themselves compelled 
to do battle. 

To the voluminous writings of Mr. Henry Thompson, Professor Gregory, 
Mrs. De Morgan, Drs. Earth, Dixon, Elliotson, Ashburner, and Haddock, 
Mr. Joseph Hands, and above all, to the experiences of Drs. Deleuze and 
Eisdale, in India, we must refer the readers, desirous to acquaint themselves 
in farther detail, concerning the origin, practices, and results of Mesmerism 
in Great Britain. 

Quite recently — that is, at the present date of writing — the practice of 
Mesmerism, whether as a curative process, or an agent for the unfoldment 
of marvellous psychologic powers, has received a most favourable impulse 
from the writings, lectures, and private practice of Miss Chandos Deigh 
Hunt (now Mrs. Wallace), a lady who has thoroughly and philosophically 
mastered as much of the subject as can at present be known or experi- 
mented with. In a scholarly and exhaustive treatise written by this lady 
on the Science and Art of Organic Magnetism,* the powers and possibilities 
of this wonderful mesmeric force are admirably described, and the immense 
range of operations, both curative and psychologic, which the talented 
authoress delineates, renders it now, as heretofore, a reproach to the age, 
that no philanthropic as well as philosophic associations should be formed 
for the study of the stupendous principles suggested by Mrs. Wallace's 
writings, and practically taught by her, to all who are interested enough to 
put vague theory into the form of demonstrable proof. 

Another valuable work treating of the results, though not of the modus 
operandi of Mesmerism, is Mrs. De Morgan's work, written quite early in 
the advent of the Spiritual movement, entitled, " From Matter to Spirit." 
Our learned authoress says : — 

"Every wonderful effect produced by mesmerism, has since found its explanation or 
its counterpart in the spiritual phenomena, so that had unseen powers been working for 
our instruction, they could not have taken a better method of giving the needful 
elementary knowledge, than by making us acquainted with the processes and results of 



Mrs. De Morgan in illustrating the statement given above, cites 
numerous examples, amongst others, the following experience, recorded by 
Dr. Jacob Dixon in his published manual, entided " Hygienic Medicine." 
This author says : — 

" Persons in some of the highest mesmeric states, appear to have gained an insight 
into the world of spirit. Of this I had striking experiences long iefore the time of raps, 
seeing mediums, and mysteries of the present day. 

" Although I had too many instances of earthly clairvoyance to remain sceptical in that 
direction, yet I held all belief in intercourse with spirits to be a delusion. This scepticism 
was first shaken by the following occurrence. 

* Private Practical Instructions in the Science and Art of Organic Magnetism. By Miss Chandos 
Leigh Hunt. Philanthropic Beform Publishing Office, 2, Oxford Mansion, Oxford Circus, 
London, W. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 127 

" Being invited to see a young lady in a clairvoyant state, in which she professed to 
see and converse with spiritual beings, I entered the room after she had been put in the 
mesmeric state, whilst my name was not even mentioned or my presence known. . . . 
At length my friends asked, whether she could look for any spirit for the party sitting 
beside her. She would try. I mentioned two names without giving age, sex, or relation- 
ship to myseK. 

" She then said : ' / mn now in a garden quite fvU of flowers. There is a group of 

children} Ttoo come oid of the group. The girl is the oldest. They are ten and 

eight years' old.' She then described perfectly eveiy feature of the two children I had 
asked for, dwelling with animation on their beautiful appearance and surroundings. The 
ages she mentioned, however, were much in advance of the reality. 

" When I remarked this she said : ' They say that I see them as they are now, you must 
remember, that they have been here some time.' " 

The writer adds — 

" It then appeared that the ages she mentioned woxild have been exactly correct had 
the two remained on earth." 

In the year 185 1, there was a society organised in England for the purpose 
of collecting and examining evidence into the alleged facts of " Supernatural- 
ism." In relation to this society, called in the usual tone of popular 
derision, " The Ghost Club," Mr. Robt. Dale Owen in his exhaustive work, 
" Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World," speaks as follows : — 

" A society was formed in the latter part of the year 1851 at Cambridge, by certain 
members of the University, for the purpose of instituting, as their circular expresses it, 
* a serious and earnest enquiry into the nature of the phenomena vaguely called 
supernatural.' The society included some of the most distinguished members of the 
University, most of them clergymen and fellows of Trinity College, and almost all of them 
men who had graduated with the highest honours. 

" The names of the more active amongst them were kindly furnished to me by the 
son of a British peer, himself one of the leading members. 

" To him also I am indebted for a copy of the printed circular of the Society, an able 
and temperate document, which will be found at length in the Appendix.* " 

Mr. Owen adds in a footnote to page 34 : — 

" The Society popularly known as ' The Ghost Club,' attracted a good deal of attention 
outside its own circle. Its nature and object came to my knowledge through the Bishop 
of , who took an interest in its proceedings, and bestirred himself to obtain contribu- 
tions to its records." 

Although we may often encounter in future chapters some of the 
individual members of this association of investigators, our notice of their 
combined researches must terminate here, hence we deem it not entirely 
out of place to anticipate by a few years the effect which those researches 
must have produced upon some at least of its members, when we give as 
the addenda to the subject, the following extracts from the London 
Sp'rifua/is^ nev/spa,per, dated April nth, 1879 : — 

"An Address by Mr. James Campbell. — Mr. J. A. Campbell, President of the Cam- 
bridge University Society for Psychological Investigation, will read a paper next Monday 
week, April 21st, at one of Mrs. Makdougall Gregory's evening receptions. There wiU be 
a large and influential gathering of Spiritualists and non- Spiritualists, the latter of whom 
will have an opportunity of learning that Spiritualism is not what it is represented to be 
by daily newspapers. The title of Mr. Campbell's address will be, ' The Record of the 
Seers concerning the Great Change.' " 

. * Appendix. Note A. " Footfalls on the Boundary of another World." By R. D. Owen. 



128 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

In the Spiritualist of the same date, is an address from Mr. Camp- 
bell entitled : — The history of the movement known as Modern 
Spiritualism, and the facts and theories connected with it, by 
J. A. Campbell ; President of the Cambridge University Society for 
Psychological Investigation. Mr. Campbell's speech, although a most 
excellent one, would only anticipate statements which the progress of the 
history itself must unfold — but its presentation some twenty years or more 
after the formation of the society of which he was and we believe is still 
the honoured President, is noticed now to show that the subject has not 
proved an evanescent one, or unworthy the consideration of eminent and 
learned scholars during a period of nearly a quarter of a century. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

spiritualism in great BRITAIN. 

second period (continued). 

American Spirit Mediums in England. 

Hitherto our history of the Spiritual movement in Great Britain has 
followed the waymarks made by an invisible host in the production of 
spontaneous and unsought phenomena. We must now proceed to consider 
those results which grew out of the invocatory processes of the Spirit circle, 
and the agency of acknowledged Spirit Mediumship. 

Long before the rumour reached England of the American disturbances 
called the " Rochester Knockings," the practices of " table turning " by 
what was supposed to be will power, were quite popular in many a fashion- 
able circle. That these curious evidences of an unknown force had any 
connection with the agency of "disembodied spirits" never seemed to 
enter the imagination of " table turning " experts, until the advent in 
England of Mrs. Hayden, an American lady, who came to this country on 
a professional tour, in company with her husband and a business agent — as 
an avowed medium for comviujzications between earth and the world of 
disembodied spirits. 

Very shortly after the advent of the " Rochester Knockings " in New York 
State, America, Mrs. Hayden, the wife of a respectable journalist, found 
herself the subject of the same strange rappings connected with intelli- 
gence, which distinguished the earUest American Mediums. Having been 
induced to sit for the public as a professional Medium, Mrs. Hayden was 
visited by a Mr. Stone, an English gendeman on a tour through the United 
States. 

Mr. Stone received such striking tests of Spirit presence through Mrs. 
Hayden's mediumship, that in 1852 he persuaded her to accompany him 
to England, never doubting that his own countrymen would become as 
much interested in the results of her marvellous gifts as he himself had 
been. 



■^ 



K 




Alfred Russell Wallace, f.r.gs. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 129 

In all the accounts published of early Spiritualism in England, Mrs. 
Hayden is mentioned as the Medium who first introduced the American 
system of communicating with Spirits through the alphabet and rappings, 
and strange as it may appear to thoughtful minds that any human beings 
could do otherwise than hail with delight a system of telegraphy which 
restored to the mourner his beloved dead, and converted the mere hope 
of immortality into demonstrated proof, it is nevertheless an historical fact, 
that an avowed Medium for Spiritual communications no sooner appeared 
on the scene, than the leaders of the press, pulpit and college, levelled 
against her a storm of ribaldry, persecution and insult, alike disgraceful 
to themselves, and humiliating to the boasted liberalism and scientific 
acumen of their age. From the author's personal knowledge of Mrs. 
Hayden, she is convinced that her gentle womanly spirit must have been 
deeply pained, and the harmony of mind so essential to the production of 
good psychological results constantly destroyed, by the cruel and insulting 
treatment she received at the hands of many of those who came, pretending 
to be investigators, but in reality burning to thwart her, and laying traps to 
falsify the truths of which Mrs. Hayden professed to be the instrument. 
Sensitively alive — as all mediumistic persons are — to the animus of her 
visitors, she could feel, and often writhed under, the crushing force of the 
antagonism brought to bear upon her, without, — at that time — knowing 
how to repel' or resist it. 

In those early days of the movement, the Mediums had neither the 
advantage of experience nor precedent in such embarrassing circumstances. 
Oppressed as they were by the opposing force which was purposely arrayed 
against them, their distress of mind only served to complicate the mental 
inharmony of the surroundings, and make it most difficult for Spirits to 
construct those delicate psychologic batteries, upon which the success of the 
communion depends. 

We all acknowledge that the most carefully prepared and chemically 
adapted elements are necessary to evolve the force of electricity, and 
promote a perfect result from the formation of a battery, yet, we overlook 
the fact, that the mental and spiritual telegraph must work through laws 
just as absolute, and whilst men ruthlessly invade those laws and destroy 
the equilibrium under which that battery works, they triumphantly regard 
failure as an evidence that no such battery was in existence at all. 

We not only know better now, but with all that tendency to exaggeration 
which marks the crises of man's ignorance and fanaticism, too many 
Spiritualists of the present day rush into the opposite extreme, and 
endeavour to palliate the most daring frauds, by pretending that sceptical 
minds and antagonistic forces have compelled detected impostors to prepare 
masks and other paraphernalia to personate spirits, when injurious conditions 
prevented their materializing, &c., &c. That the real truth lies between 
the extremes of antagonism on the one hand, and wilful imposture on the 
other, none can doubt. In Mrs. Hayden's time, there is good reason to 
believe that the occasional failures which occurred at her circles, were the 
result of cunningly prepared traps to involve the inexperienced medium in 
contradictory statements, and when once the would-be detectives thought 
they had succeeded in these notable plots, the columns of the public 
journals were filled with triumphant accounts of " the entire collapse of 
the Spirit rapping delusion." 

As an illustration both of the spirit of the times, and the manifest injury 
to Mediumship, which determined antagonism can exercise, we give a few 
9 



I30 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

extracts from a little work which the writer has wisely bequeathed to 
posterity in an ajionymous form. Doubtless "he builded wiser than he 
knew," and whilst his evil record serves the purpose of preserving both 
sides of the shield of history, he is spared the disgrace of sending down his 
name to posterity, branded with the tokens of folly his writings display. 

The title of the work is " Spirit Rapping in England and America," and 
the author after a derisive and perverted account of the American manifes- 
tations, goes on to detail the incidents of a seance which he professes to 
have held with Mrs. Hayden shortly after her arrival in London in 1852. 

Let the reader picture to himself the poor Medium, leaving the pleasant 
homes of New England, and establishing herself in the proverbially cold 
and cheerless shelter of a London lodging-house, in the "pea soup" 
atmosphere of a London November, and amongst a people not, at thai 
time, particularly in favour of " Yankee speculators." 

Sneering scoffers of the " gent " order, as described by the late witty 
writer, Albert Smith 3 insolent aristocrats seeking for a new sensation and 
dividing their interest between wrenching off door-knockers at night, and 
Yankee Spirit rappers " by day ; ghb press men bound to supply a funny 
item, and not caring if the fun is made out of the souls of their ancestors, 
so long as they were employed to indite journalistic satire against an 
unpopular thing — these were amongst the daily visitors of the poor foreigner, 
whose power to satisfy their demands depended upon the most peaceful 
and harmonious conditions of mind and body. When we add to this, that 
the Medium herself was as much a tyro in the means of producing success- 
ful manifestations, as those who sought her, the marvel is that any Spirit 
short of a Mephistopheles or Lucifer, could be enabled to rap out names 
and dates correctly at all. If the reader has fully possessed himself of the 
conditions under which the first Spiritual telegraphic messages were pro- 
duced in London, he need not be surprised at the results obtained, as 
narrated in the anonymous work which we are now about to quote. 
After a great deal of circumlocution of an unimportant character, the reader 
is informed that the visitors were "Brown " and "Thompson;" names no 
doubt meant to imply that they were assumed to mask two very illustrious 
personages. After all sorts of derisive remarks about the Medium's lodging 
and surroundings, these gentlemen proceeded to hold a seance, of which the 
following extract is a specimen : — 

" At length, getting too weary of the scene to pursue it farther, ' I wish,' said Brown, 
' to ask some questions concerning the future ; can the spirits answer them without your 
knowing what they are ? ' 'If they cannot, they will be silent,' said the medium, ' some- 
times they do so. Try.' ' As they are questions which I should not like to ask in public, 
will they see them written on paper?' '0 yes.' Brown wrote down very clearly: 
' Shall I soon be married ? ' ' Will the spirits answer this question ? ' Rat-tat-tat. ' Is 
" yes " the answer ? ' Rat-tat-tat. ' How many children shall I have 1 ' was written next. 
Brown saying ' This is a question that must be answered in numbers. Does the spirit see 
it ? ' Rat-tat-tat. ' Can it answer me ? ' Rat-tat-tat. And so the spirit answered by 
the usual process, 'One hundred and thirty-six.' When the 1 was obtained, and then 
the 3 to go next to it, and then the 6 to go after that, the rapid growth of Brown's 
family amused Thompson, and the imminent carrying on of the sum into thousands was 
prevented by his ill-timed mirth. The production of children by Brown stopped, therefore, 
prematurely, at the number of one hundred and thirty-six. 

" The medium, who always asked whether the answers fitted, and who did not 
clearly know whether she might not be succeeding vastly, although she evidently felt a 
little puzzled by the sense that she was not doing so well as might be expected, was now 
re-assured by the reverent tone in which the too explosive Thompson asked whether 
the spirits of his sisters were in the room. His only sister being in vigorous health, he 
did not expect her ghost ; but it was there, and very prompt to answer him. How long 
had she been dead ? Two years. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 131 

" So the dreary labour was continued ; but we cannot fatigue our readers with the 
whole monotony of a sitting that was not enlivened by one happy guess." 

"Brown" cursorily remarks, among other contemptuous comments on 
this scene, that Mr. Stone, the party who had undertaken the management 
of the seances, enquired if they were satisfied, and offered if otherwise to give 
another seance free, to which the said Brown only adds in his gracious way, 
" But we had seen enough," and so there was nothing more to do than to 
show up the whole thing as "a humbug, through the medium of the press." 

The late Judge Edmonds, of New York, assured the author, that he did 
not dare to make up his mind definitively upon so unprecedented, and 
important a subject, until he had attended at least one hundred circles, 
and seen some fifty Mediums for various forms of Spiritual power. " It 
was through such methods of investigation as these," said this learned 
'jurist, "that I at length became convinced of the fact that the soul of man 
is immortal, can and does communicate, and that we are even now standing 
in the dawn of a great and wonderful day of Spiritual science. This know- 
ledge so invaluable, and opening up possibilities so unUmited, is surely 
worth more than the cost of one hundred hours out of any man's life, 
however exigea?it the demands upon his time may be." 

" But Judge Edmonds was a crazy SpirituaHst," answers Brown. 
"Thompson and I spent one hour with a mejiuni, and found it all false ; 
what are his hundred hours' experiences compared to our one ? " 

Shortly after this, a favourable report appeared in the Leader, in which 
a party of ladies and gentlemen who had engaged Mrs. Hayden to attend 
in their own house, bore testimony to her entire honesty, the excellence of 
the tests they had received, and the utter impossibility of her agency in 
producing either the sounds, movements, or intelligence ; whereupon 
certain gentlemen of the press, who seemed to have made it their special 
duty " to explode the thing," proceeded to the accomplishment of their 
creditable work in the way recorded as follows. " Mr. Lewes," the 
Leader's editor, or representative, was the party from whom the annexed 
report proceeded. He says, in the work on " Spirit Rapping," above 
alluded to : — 

" Before I had witnessed these ' astounding phenomena,' I had formed an hypothesis 
of the whole process, which turned out to be accurate. It did not seem in the least sur- 
prising to me that the questioner should be correctly answered, even when asking 
questions mentally, of which no living soul but his own knew the answer. I invariably 
said : ' The cause of your delusion is that you direct your attention to the i king said, 
and not to the loay in which it is said. Whatever the trick may be, it will be just as 
easy to answer a question of one kind as of another — the nature of the question has 
nothing to do with it. If you ask where your grandfather died, his death being a 
mystery to the whole world, the answer is as easy as if you ask where Napoleon died ; 
because as it is you who really give the answer, not the medium, what you have in your 
mind is what will turn out to be the answer. You assure me solemnly that you do not 
tell the medium anything ; I declare unequivocally that you do. It is the same in cases 
of clairvoyance : you tell all, and fancy you are told. You do not tell it in so many 
words, but unconsciously you are made to communicate the very thing you believe is 
communicated to you.' . . . 

" I had formed an hypothesis, and according to that hypothesis I framed certain traps 
into which the medium would infallibly fall if my supposition were correct ; the 
hypothesis and the traps I explained to certain friends before the experiment was made, 
and the result not only fully confirmed expectation, but showed what was certainly not 
anticipated — viz., that the trick was a miserably poor one. 

" Our party comprised Mr. and Mrs. Masters, Sir WilKam, Mr. Purcell, and myself (for 
obvious reasons, the names given are fictitious, except my own). It was after dinner, and 
we were smoking our cigars, when the footman announced that Mrs. Hayden was in the 



132 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



drawing-room. "We soon joined her there, and found her talking to Mrs. Masters about 
the ' spirits,' in the most easy, familiar way — indeed, she always spoke of them without 
awe, but with implicit confidence — as if they had been pet monkeys. The conversation 
soon became general, as we formed a circle round the table. It of course turned upon 
the ' Manifestations,' and Mrs. Hayden was copious ia anecdotes (adroitly mingled with 
aristocratic and well-known names) of the surprising success which had attended her. 
At last, the rappings having announced that the ghosts were impatient to do something 
for the money jjaid, we took our cards, on which the letters of the alphabet, and the 
numerals from one to ten, were printed, and the seance began. 

" Sir William was the first. He thought of one dead. On asking whether the person 
he was then thinking of was present, an alacrity in rapping assured him of the fact. He 
took his card ; the raps were distinct ; but the letters were all wrong. He tried another 
spirit — again the letters indicated were wrong. He tried a third, but a third time nothing 
came right. I was beginning to get anxious lest repeated failures should alarm the 
medium, and make her give some evasive excuse ; so I suggested that Mr. Masters should 
try. He tried — but with the same desperate ill success. It was now my turn. Let me 
pause here to remark that both Sir William and Mr. Masters were determined to give no 
clue whatever — they remained purely passive, awaiting a result ; they passed their 
pencils along the alphabet with such terrible uniformity that the medium was reduced 
to vague guessing, and of course in each guess it was thirty-five to one against her. This 
was what I had anticipated ; but it was only negative evidence, and I was to elicit some- 
thing positive. 

" I thought of a relative of mine, and said aloud, ' I should Hke to know if she is 
present.' Rapping answered ' Yes.' Observe, the person I thought of was a real person — 
I was planning no trap this time, because the experiment was to be every way conclusive. 
I passed my pencil equally along the alphabet without once lingering, until after I had passed 
the letter J, with which her name began. Finding that I was not to have the real name, 
I thought I would try if I could not make the raps answer where I pleased. I chose N. 
Eaps came ; N was written down. What name, thought I, shall it be ? Naomi or 
Nancy ? Before I had finally settled, my pencil had passed A, and as I saw E, I 
determined E should be the letter, and E was indicated. N E, of course, would do for 
Nelly, and Nelly was spelled ! Then came the surname, which ought to have begun with 
H ; but as my pencil did not linger at H, on we passed until we came to S, which was 
indicated without any intention on my part. I had then to inyent some name beginning 
with S, which was not done at once, from the very embarras de richesses ; however, I 
thought would do, and was indicated ; then E, ; and after that I resolved the name 
should be Sorel. It is unnecessary to follow further thus in detail my first trial ; enotigh 
if I add, that Nelly Sorel informed me she died in 1855, leaving six children, two of whom 
were boys, the eldest fourteen — every answer beiag ludicrously wrong, but declared by 
me to be ' astonishing,' which declaration was accepted in perfect faith by the medium, 
who thought she had got one good, credulous listener, at all events. That was my 
object — to make her fall into my trap it was necessary she should believe I was her dupe. 

" As far as my hypothesis went, it was confirmed by this conversation. I knew that 
it was the questioner who suppHed the answer, and I made the answer turn out whatever 
I pleased— not, be it remembered, having that answer originally in my mind, so as to 
admit of any pretended 'thought reading' — but framing the answer according to the 
caprice of the moment, and invariably receiving the answer I had resolved on. Now you 
have only to replace acted creduhty by real credulity, and the trick is explained. What 
I did consciously, the credulous do unconsciously. I spelled the words, so do they. 
The medium knows nothing ; she guesses according to the indications you give, and only 
guesses right when you give right indications ; therefore, if you ask what you and you 
alone can answer, she will answer it only on the supposition that you indicate by your 
manner what the answer is. But if any doubt lingers in your mind, let this my second 
trial suffice. 

" To show how completely the answers are made at random, when no clue is given, but 
only a ' yes ' or ' no ' is required, here are four questions I wrote on a piece of paper, and 
the answers I received : — 

" ' Had the ghost of Hamlet's father seventeen noses ? ' Yes. 

" ' Had Semiramis ? ' Yes. 

" ' Was Pontius Pilate an American ? ' No. 

" ' Was he a leading tragedian ? ' Yes. 

" I thought Mr. Purcell would have had a stroke of apoplexy, when I showed him 
these questions ; how he restrained the convulsion of laughter is a mystery ! 

" Let me not forget, that when Mr. Purcell caUed up a spirit, the answers were 
tolerably correct, not quite, but stUl near enough to be curious to one unsuspicious ; he 
confessed afterwards, however, that he had semi-consciously assisted the medium ; but, in 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 133 

his second conversation, he called up the spirit of an old family servant, who, at an 
advanced age, married an elderly woman, and who subsequently drowned himself. These 
were the questions and answers as written down : — 

" ' Does James miss his children ? ' Yes. (Never had any.) 

" ' How many had he ? ' Yes. 

" ' How many boys ? ' Yes. 

" ' What did he die of ? ' Wafer. 

" To explain this ' wafer,' it may be observed, that Mr. Purcell meant the death to be 
called water on the chest, which was his fallacious hint by way of an explanation of 
drowning ; and, when he said aloud that the word was incorrectly spelled wafer, whereas 
it ought to have been ' water on the chest,' Mrs. Hayden pointed triumphantly to the 
accuracy, ' Only one letter wrong, you see ; tvafer instead of water ! ' and she referred to 
this several times in the course of the evening. 

" I have not half exhausted my stock of questions and answers written down at the 
time ; but the foregoing will surely suffice ; and, should they be deemed inconclusive, 
perhaps this one will close the question. As I had been so very successful in getting 
correct answers, and was evidently regarded by the spirits with singular partiality, they 
never declining to answer any question I put, it occurred to me to write this question ou 
my paper, which I showed to Mr. Purcell : — 

" ' is Mrs. Hayden an imjpostor ? ' 

"An unequivocating Tes, was the answer ; and, to make assurance doubly sure, Mr. 
Purcell affected not to hear that answer ; so we repeated the question, and again were 
assured that she was an impostor. This was the most satisfactory answer of the evening, 
and I felt very sorry that the medium was a woman—not a man, to whom I could have 
said, ' I asked the spirits if you were an impostor, and you hear them declare you to be 
one.' For I must plainly say, that a more ignoble imposture than this spirit manifestation 
never came before me — and that was the opinion of the whole party. It is easy for the 
reader to convince himself of this by a similar process." 

" In the following number of the Leader the editor observed : ' Iconoclasts are 
generally welcomed with abuse from devotees. Entering the temples of superstition and 
charlatanism, they smite the hideous idols from their pedestals, amidst the bowlings of 
indignant worshippers. It was to be expected, therefore, that in exposing the imposture 
of spirit manifestations which America has shipped for our guUible market, we should 
have to bear hard words and worse insinuations from indignant dupes ; and what we 
expected we have received.' 

■' ' Dr. Ashburner, for example, has felt himself personally insulted, and has written 
an insulting letter, complaining of the " flippant " treatment this " very sacred subject " 
received at our hands, but as he opposes our experimental ^roo/ by nothing stronger than 
his own emphatic assertion, he cannot expect those who reason, to attach much weight to 
mere declarations.' " 

The portion of Dr. Ashburner's letter above alluded to, quoted by the 
veracious editor of the Leader, reads as follows : — 

"Sex ought to have protected her from injury if you gentlemen of the press have no^ 
regard to the hospitable feelings due to one of your own cloth, for Mrs. Hayden is the 
wife of a former editor and proprietor of a journal in Boston, having a most extensive 
circulation in New England. I declare to you that Mrs. Hayden is no impostor, and he 
who has the daring to come to an opposite conclusion must do so at the peril of his 
character for truth. I defy Mr. Lewes or any one else to prove the acts of imposition or 
fraud in the phenomena that require the presence of such a medium as Mrs. Hayden for 
their development. I have calmly, deliberately, and very cautiously studied this subject. 
It may please superficial thinkers to treat it as they long treated Mesmerism and clair- 
voyance. The fire from the Zoist, the researches of Baron Von Reichenbach, Mr. Butter's 
important discovery of the magnetescope, have settled, for posterity, the questions scouted 
by the twaddling physiologists of this generation. A battle is to be fought for the new 
manifestations. I have no hesitation in saying that, much as I have seen of Mesmerism 
and of clairvoyance — grand as were my anticipations of the vast amount of good to accrue 
to the human race, in medical and physical improvement, from the expansion given to 
them by the cultivation of their extensive relations — all sink into shade and comparative 
insignificance, in the contemplation of those consequences which must result from the 
spirit manifestations. This is a very serious truth, and must and will force its way. 
Animal magnetism and its consequences appeared marvellous to petty minds. The spirit 
manifestations have, in the last three weeks, produced miracles, and many more will, ere 
long, astound the would-be considered philosophers, who may continue to deny and sneer 
at the most obvious facts. I am. Sir, your obedient servant, 

"York Place, March 14th, 1853."' "John Ashburneb. 



134 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



No reformers who have attempted to present a new idea to the world^ 
and been compelled to run the gauntlet of ignorance and prejudice, will 
fail to acknowledge that antagonism is as necessary to ultimate success, as 
ready acceptance. 

So did it prove in the case of Spiritualism and " the American Medium." 
The attacks upon her so deliberately planned, carried out with utter dis- 
regard to all psychological influence, and subsequently so rudely and 
inhospitably trumpeted abroad as the blow which was for ever to crush out 
of existence the supernaturalism of thousands of years, had the effect which 
wise invisible ivire puller?, might possibly have foreseen. It called into print 
a perfect flood of testimony of a totally opposite character, and so far 
from crushing out the " delusion " by one fell swoop of the editorial pen, it 
became a hydra-headed messenger of an established Spirit telegraphy, to 
thousands of persons, who would otherwise have never known of its existence. 

From multitudes of letters which poured in from every quarter in favour 
of the truth of the manifestations, letters which the press were at that time 
compelled to place side by side with the opposing testimony, we select the 
following as specimens of what calm deliberative minds were — even in that 
early day — impelled to think of the newly-developed telegraphy. Both the 
following letters were printed in the Leader., in connection with reiterated 
charges on the part of the editor, against " the fraudulent practices of the 
American Medium." 

" Sir, — Having observed in your journal of the 5th instant a statement respecting the 
alleged spirit manifestations, from a correspondent who appears to have but partially 
investigated the matter, I take the liberty of transmitting to you a few additional 
particulars. 

" I, upon the iirst occasion, called the spirit of an old servant —the experiment was 
unsatisfactory ; I then attempted to help him, but got on with difficulty ; had I had 
the inclination, I feel confident answers could have been obtained equally absurd as 
those your correspondent prides himself with having so ingeniously succeeded in obtaining. 

" I, however, did not throw discredit on, or treat with scorn, the experience of others ; 
I, therefore, determined to try again the nest evening, believing that the failure rested 
either in myself or some other unknown cause. I called the spirits of two of my own 
nearest relations, who might naturally be supposed to be more intimately connected with 
myself ; they both presented themselves, giving proofs of their identity which could 
never have occurred to me to seek. I tested them in various ways. I was also anxious 
to ascertain whether by willing strongly, and dwelling upon wrong letters, I could obtain 
false answers, but failed to influence them in any way whatever, whether the alphabet 
was placed upon, or concealed under, the table, and at each of the several successive 
interviews the rapport appears to be more thoroughly established ; whether I ask 
questions audibly or mentally, concise and clear answers are given, excepting in some 
few instances when no reply can be obtained. 

" So far as the moving of the table is concerned, I obtained my request, during the 
second interview, in so satisfactory a manner, that I consider time may be more profit- 
ably employed than in seeking a repetition of it ; it moved out of reach of Mrs. Hayden, 
and soon after suddenly regained its former position ; it also moved upon its axis in a 
peculiarly smooth, gliding manner ; not the top only, but the whole table, as I particularly 
observed, commencing with an almost invisible motion until it gained a rapid pace, and 
stopped suddenly. I immediately endeavoured myself to produce a similar motion, but 
was unable. 

" I will conclude by stating, that I have reason to consider Mrs. Hayden to be a lady 
possessed of courage, but, having a delicate and sensitive mind, any insults directed 
against her, whether personally or through the medium of the press, may be likely to 
have a tendency to disarrange and interrupt that subtle and mysterious agency so 
intimately connected with our higher nature. May I venture to recommend those who 
determine to investigate for themselves, to refrain from publishing the crude ideas of one 
hour's experience, especially should they arrive at conclusions opposite to those of 
the thousands who have been making the subject their earnest and constant study during 
the past five years ? I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

"March 21, 1853." " C. F. I.* 

'^' Sir Charles Isham. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 135 

Another letter makes us acquainted with a novel mode of Spirit writing 
by medium intervention : — 

" Sir, — Permit me, if you conveniently can, the opportunity of affording Mr. Lewes a 
peg on which to hang a few shreds of additional comments, in defence of his ' hypothesis' 
relative to the spirit-rapping ' imposture.' Mr. Lewes does not hesitate to impute, by 
anticipation, imposture to others, nor to ' act ' an imposture himself ; why should ' the 
spirits ' be denied their revenge upon him ? Are there no wags out of the body as well 
as in it ? Are we to dictate to the wag above how he is to treat the wag below ? 

" But, further, Mr. Lewes's hypothesis does not cover the whole facts of the pheno- 
mena. It does in no way explain the unexceptionably attested cases, recorded in the 
American literature on the subject, and in the records of private investigation, into 
which the vulgar notion of imposture, besides being excluded by the very nature of the 
occurrences described, is, on other grounds, wholly inadmissible. How, for instance, does 
it apply to the following case ? — A pair of scissors is held, by the points, by a • medium,' 
over a sheet of writing-paper. One of the persons present drops a pencil into the thumb- 
hole of the scissors. Presently, the pencil stands apart from the steel, begins to move, 
and the hand of the medium is carried across the paper, and the signature of a person 
known to be dead appears ! The father, or other near relative of the person is present, 
and, from some peculiarity in it, disputes the genuineness of the signature. The recent 
letters of the person are appealed to, and there the very same peculiarity is found, and 
the exact correspondence of the two signatures demonstrated. 

" This case Ls reported in Horace Greeley's paper, the Tribime, and he voiiches for the 
honour and capacity of his correspondent, who gives the original letter of the father, or 
relative of the alleged spirit writer, I mention it from memory, but am certain the 
main facts of the record are as stated. " A.+ 

" Liverpool, March 21, 1853." 

The next sword that was aimed against the new faith was drawn from 
an unexpected quarter, namely, by the hand of Dr. Elliotson, one of the 
most prominent writers in the Zot'sf, and a gentleman whose extensive 
experiences in mesmeric and psychologic phenomena suggested the expec- 
tation, that he would be prompt to welcome a phase of power so nearly 
related to many of the mental revealments that must have come under his 
own observation. 

We do not pause upon the stern and relentless acts of warfare which this 
gentleman directed against the American Medium, nor is it necessary to 
say that his adherence to the ranks of the opponents was all the more 
eagerly welcomed by them, because they had anticipated from Dr. Elliot- 
son's antecedents, a totally different result. It is a far pleasanter task to 
the author to record, instead of the harsh diatribes pubHshed in the Zot's^ 
by this ever faithful soldier of what he beUeved to be the truth, a delightful 
interview which she enjoyed with this venerable gentleman when, nearly 
sixteen years after the period now under consideration, Dr. Ashburner 
invited the author to call with him upon an aged and infirm gentleman 
unable himself to go through the ceremony of the first call, but who, as a 
warm and devoted Spiritualist of ma?iy years stafiding, was all anxiety to 
welcome and co?iverse with Mrs. Emma Ilardinge, or any of the ivell-knowfi 
American Mediums of the holy faith. 

This " aged and infirm gentleman " was Dr. Elliotson, once the bitter 
foe, now the warm adherent of Spiritualism, a faith which the venerable 
gentleman cherished as the brightest revelation that had ever been vouch- 
safed to him, and one which finally smoothed the dark passage to the life 
beyond and made his transition, a scene of triumphant faith and joyful 
anticipation. 



t Mr. Andrew Leighton, 



136 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 

Besides the Leader., Zoist, and Household Woi^ds, the columns of several of 
the London journals began to be filled with/r<? and con articles on the subject 
of Spiritualism, soon after Mrs. Hayden's visit had opened up that topic as 
a theme of pubhc discussion. Amongst other leading papers in which each 
side of the vexed question was allowed a fair representation, was ihe Critic, 
a journal to which Mr. Spicer, the well-known author of " Sights and 
Sounds," contributed a series of articles on the subject of Spiritualism, 
from which we give the following excerpts : — 

" As Sir Charles Isliam has already given his public testimony to the facts witnessed 
by himself, I need not hesitate to say that I received from him, and other members of his 
family (including the rector of a parish in Nottinghamshire), the most explicit and positive 
assurance that they all, together with several others, heard these mysterious sounds at 
Lamport Hall,* in a perfectly private family circle (neither Mrs. Hayden nor any other 
professional medium being present). They all assured me that there could be no mistake 
or delusion about it. The rector alluded to also mentioned several satisfactory tests to 
which he had subjected Mrs. Hayden's spirits — receiving correct answers, through another 
gentleman present (who held the alphabet), to questions which nobody present could have 
known by any ordinary mode. I have also received letters from a gentleman of the very 
highest reputation and authority in the scientific world, and with whose writings and 
character my Cambridge studies have long ago made me familiar, as those of the most 
cautious reasoner whom I know.t He is professor of mathematics in a well-known 
college ; is recognised as one of the first mathematicians in England ; and is pre-eminent 
for the profound and cautious scrutiny of principles and reasonings which characterises 
his writings. . . . Well, thus he writes to me : — 

" ' Those who can set it down as easily explicable by imposture, are among the easiest 
believers I know — if they know anything of such facts as I know from a pluraUty of 
witnesses to each.' 

" The founder of Sociahsm — the celebrated Eobert Owen — has been converted by these 
rappings, to a belief in a spiritual world, and a future state. He has published a manifesto 
to that effect. I met him one day last week at Mrs. Hayden's, and heard from his own 
lips the statement of several of the facts which had produced this conviction in him. 
This, of itself, is a curious fact, which I presume even the sapient writer of the Zoist will 
not deny. 2nd. The excitement on the subject in the United States, having already 
existed nearly five years, is so far from subsiding or dying away, that it is increasing and 
spreading wider and faster every day. Only a month or two ago, a Dr. Tyng, one of the 
episcopal clergy in New York, preached a sermon, at the usual time and place, warning his 
congregation to have nothing to do with these spirits. The preacher did not for a moment 
pretend to deny or doubt the facts ; but, like the Rev. Hugh M'Neile in this country with 
regard to Mesmerism, he considered them of Satanic origin. 

" The thing has scarcely begun in England as yet ; but already, within the few months 
since Mr. and Mrs. Hayden arrived in London, it has spread like wild-fire, and I have good 
reason for saying that the excitement is only commencing. Persons who at first treated 
the whole affair as a contemptible imposture, on witnessing these strange things for them- 
selves, become first startled and astonished, then rush bHndly into all sorts of mad con- 
clusions — as for instance, that it is all the work of the devil, or (in the opposite degree) 
that it is a new revelation from Heaven. . . . That it is not imposture I feel perfectly 

* Lamport Hall, Northampton. Seat of Sir Chas. Isliam. 
t Professor De Morgan. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 137 

and fully convinced. In addition to the tests, etc., above named, I had a long conversa- 
tion in private with both Mr. and Mrs. Hayden, separately, and everything they said bore 
the marks of sincerity and good faith. Of course this is no evidence to other people, but 
it is to me. If there is any deception, they are as much deceived as any of their dupes. 

"A word or two as to its being a money-exhibition. In the first place, there are, to 
my certain knowledge, several persons who are mediums in private life, who, so far from 
making it public and getting money by it, are only too anxious to keep it quiet ; but, of 
course, such things cannot be altogether hushed up. Of these, one at least is a lady of 
rank (whose name I could give, if necessary), and others are in a position which renders 
all such charges as imposture and money-exhibitions perfectly out of the question. 

" In the present state of public opinion, however, nobody cares to avow their belief 
in these sort of things, unless they have a particular wish to be set down by their friends 
as lunatics, or are desirous of profiting by it in a pecuniary way. But even these are not 
fairly dealt with, I think, Mr. Hayden held a respectable position in America as editor of 
a newspaper of good repute and circulation ; and if he and Mrs. H. believed (as they state) 
that it was advisable to come over and make these things known here, why should they 
not be paid for their time and trouble ? But this, of course, has nothing to do with the 
main point — ' Are these rappings what they profess to be — the work of spirits ? ' " 

The "manifesto" of Robert Owen, referred to in the foregoing com- 
niLinication, says :— 

" I have patiently, with first impressions against the truthfulness of these manifesta- 
tions, investigated their history, and the proceedings connected with them in the United 
States — have read the most authentic works for and against them ; and although I long 
continued to doubt, and thought the whole a delusion, 1 have been compelled to come to a 
very different conclusion." " While conversing with Mrs. Hayden, and while we were both 
standing before the fire, suddenly raps were heard on a table at some distance from us, no 
one being near it. I was surprised ; and as the raps continued, and appeared to indicate 
a strong desire to attract attention, I asked what was the meaning of the sounds. Mrs. 
Hayden said they were spirits anxious to communicate with some one, and she would 
inquire who they were. They replied to her by the alphabet that they were friends of 
mine, who were desirous to communicate with me. Mrs. Hayden then gave me the 
alphabet and pencil, and I found, according to their own statements, that the spirits were 
those of my mother and father. I tested their truth by various questions, and their 
answers, all correct, surprised me exceedingly." "In mixed societies with conflicting minds, 
I have seen very confused answers given ; but I believe, in all these cases, the errors have 
arisen from the state of mind of the inquirer." 

It would be impossible in this merely compendious notice of Spiritual 
progress in Great Britain, to pursue the course of Mr. Owen's investiga- 
tions in farther detail ; suffice it to say, they were followed out in the most 
thorough, calm, and deliberate spirit of enquiry. 

Mr. Owen lived to reaUze many corroborative proofs of Spirit intercourse 
from other sources than Mrs. Hayden's Mediamship, and in his last days 
was often heard to declare, the sum of his whole life-long endeavour to 
bless and improve the condition of his fellow men, paled before that mighty 
illumination which brought, to him, but especially to earth's toiling martyrs, 
the assurance of immortality, and the certainty of reunion with all we have 
loved and lost on earth, " in another and a better world." 

Very shortly after the advent of Mrs. Hayden in England, the public 
were privileged to witness another phase of Spirit power in the person of 
Miss Emma Frances Jay, a young lady who had quite recently become 
developed as a trance medium in America, in fact the first phenomenon 
of this kind that had as yet appeared upon the public rostrum. 

Miss Jay's Mediumship consisted of speaking with extraordinary elo- 
quence on metaphysical subjects. She also concluded her addresses by 
singing ; both words and music being improvisations of remarkable beauty 
and sweetness. 



138 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

These exhibitions, although singularly interesting, did not furnish the 
indisputable proof of a Spiritual origin for which the sceptics of the time 
were seeking ; nevertheless, the wonderful improvisations poured forth by 
this gifted young sybil, might have convinced any experienced psychologist, 
that she was controlled by some power far transcending her normal capacity. 

After a few months spent amongst the aristocratic circles of England, 
wherein Miss Jay's interesting phase of Mediumship rendered her the 
centre of universal admiration, she returned to America, and as Mrs. 
Bullene soon became one of the most popular speakers of the American 
rostrum. 

But the great era in English Spiritualism, from which may be dated 
unnumbered conversions, was inaugurated by the visit of Mr. D. D. Home, 
who though of European birth, was brought up by relatives in America, 
from which circumstance he was at first generally spoken of as an 
" American Medium." As Mr. Home's wonderful gifts have exercised an 
unbounded influence upon European society, and his whole career forms 
an epoch in human history — the effect of which can never be blotted out, 
we must claim the privilege of dwelling somewhat minutely upon his first 
introduction to England, and although his own published biography, 
together with a whole encyclopaedia of press notices, are already before the 
world, the history of the Spiritual movement in Europe would be inex- 
plicable, were we to omit due notice of so important a link in the chain of 
cause and effect as Mr. Home, and his marvellous Mediumistic career. It 
has been alleged that Mr. Home came to England in the spring of 1855 
for the benefit of his health, which, his friends deemed as a last, but 
almost hopeless chance, might be restored by an European trip. He was 
at this time about twenty-two years of age ; had been studying for the 
medical profession, and though already celebrated in New England for 
his wonderful medial powers, he would have devoted himself entirely to 
the practice of medicine, had not the development of consumptive tendencies, 
compelled him to comply with the wishes of his friends, and seek health in 
entire relaxation from his professional studies. 

Mr. Home never practised his Mediumship professionally. He seldom, 
if ever, sat in dark circles ; never refused to submit to any tests demanded 
of him ; was very careful not to sit in any such positions as to warrant 
the idea that he exercised any personal effort in producing the manifesta- 
tions, often drawing away from contact with the table, whilst a large 
amount of the most remarkable phenomena produced in his presence 
occurred without the agency of tables at all. He never refused to submit 
to personal examinations, to prove that he carried no concealed apparatus 
before the commencement of his seances, and in every word and act, mani- 
fested a spirit of candour and sincerity, which none but the most prejudiced 
and illiberal bigots could have misconstrued. 

We have already given some account of Mr. Home's wonderful Medium- 
istic endowments in our French section, and the reader will find further 
illustrations of this gentleman's marvellous gifts in the reports of seances in 
succeeding pages ; it need only be added that Mr. Home's witnesses range 
from monarchs, princes, statesmen, scientists, and potentates, down to the 
professional and private grades of life, and throughout them all, it is 
impossible to find any proven account of fraud, or deception. 

It was this marvellous phenomenal being that came in the year 1855 to 
visit London, and became a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Cox, the noble-hearted 
proprietors of a fashionable hotel in Jermyn Street, St. James'. Amongst 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



•39 



the many distinguished personages that Mr. Home met at Mr. Cox's was 
the late Lord Brougham, who having became greatly interested in the 
marvellous phenomena exhibited through the young American, asked 
permission to bring his friend Sir David Brewster to witness the new and 
mysterious power. 

As the correspondence which grew out of this, and a second visit which 
Sir David paid Mr. Home, when the latter became a guest of Mr. Rymer 
at Ealing, exercised a manifest influence upon the progress of Spiritualism 
in England in divers ways, at the risk of inflicting upon our readers, 
passages which have already attained to a wide-spread notoriety, we must 
here give a few extracts that will present a summary of the case in question. 

It would seem that the correspondence arose from the circumstance of 
the sea?ice being reported in an American paper, from whence it was copied 
into the London Morning Advertiser., and this called forth from Sir David 
Brewster the following remarks, from which we only excise some unimportant 
preliminary words addressed to the editor. 

" To the Editor of the Morning Advertiser. 
" Sir, — It is quite true as stated by Mr. Home, that I wrote an article in the North 
British Review in which I have denounced ' table-moving and spirit-rapping ' in the 
strongest terms, and it is also true that I saw at Cox's Hotel, in company with Lord 
Brougham, and at Ealing, in company with Mrs. Trollope, several mechanical effects 
which I was unable to explain. But though I could not account for all these effects, I 
never thought of ascribing them to spirits stalking beneath the drapery of the table, and 
I saw enough to satisfy myseK that they could all be produced by human hands and feet, 
and to prove to others that some of them at least, had such an origin." 

The letter concludes with a strong adjuration to Mr. Home to announce 
himself as the Wizard of the West instead of "insulting religion, common- 
sense, &c., by ascribing his power to the sacred dead." 

To this epistle immediately succeeded the following answers from Mr. 
Cox and Mr. Benjamin Coleman. Mr. Cox, who had been present during 
Sir David's first investigation, after alluding to his surprise at the letter in 
the Advertiser, and quoting several of its allegations, says : — 

" Without unnecessarily alluding to what I understand you saw at the house of an 
equally-disinterested investigator — for be it remembered all who have received Mr. Home 
in this country are above suspicion, and desire to arrive only at the truth — I beg to recall 
to your memory what took place at my house when Lord Brougham and you did me the 
favour to accept my invitation, and I will appeal to your candour to say whether there 
was a possibility of the various acts being effected by the hands or feet of anyone present. 

" I have a distinct recollection of the astonishment which both Lord Brougham and 
yourself expressed, and your emphatic exclamation to me — ' Sir, this upsets the philosophy 

of fifty yeo'i's: 

" If the subject be beyond your powers of reasonable explanation, leave it to others ; 
for it is not just or generous to raise the cry of imposture, in a matter you cannot explain, 
taking advantage of your character to place humbler men in a false jDosition, by allowing 
the world to think they were by ignorance or design parties to so gross and impudent a 
fraud. 

" I am, Sir David, 

" Your obedient servant, 
" Cox's Hotel, Jermyn Street, October 4, 1855." William Cox." 

Mr. Benjamm Coleman — a gentleman of wealth and high social standing — 
one who subsequently figured largely in the Spiritual movement and 
against whose honesty, integrity, and acumen as a keen observer, even Sir 
David Brewster could bring no allegation, next takes up the cudgels by 
addressing a letter to the Morning Advertiser, to the following effect : — 



I40 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" Sir,— Sir David Brewster has addressed a letter to you, attributing the phenomena 
which he witnessed in the presence of Mr. Home, to mechanical agency. 

" Sir David, although he had at least two interviews, and was invited to further 
investigation, failed to discover the mechanism by which these marvels were produced. 

" I am one of a hundred, who have recently witnessed these manifestations at the house 
of a friend, and I am sure that they were neither effected by trick, nor were we under a 
delusion. ... I was as much astonished at what I saw in Mr. Home's presence as 
any man, and when I found that Sir David Brewster had been a witness of similar 
phenomena, I called upon Sir David, and in the course of conversation he said, that what 
he and Lord Brougham saw, was marvellous, quite unaccountable. 

" I then asked him ; ' Do you think these things were produced by trick ? ' 

'' ' No, certainly not,' was his reply. 

" ' Is it delusion, think you ? ' 

" ' No, that is out of the question.' 

" ' Then what is it ? ' 

" To which he replied, ' I don't know, but Spirit is the last thing I will give in to.' 

" Sir David then told me what he and Lord Brougham had witnessed : 'The table — 
a large dinner table — moved about in the most extraordinary manner, and amongst other 
things, an accordion was conveyed by an invisible agency to his hand, and then to Lord 
Brougham's, in which, held by his Lordship's right hand, apart from any person, it played 
an air throughout' Mr. Coleman adds : ' Is it reasonable — astounding as the fact may 
be — to attribute such a performance to mechanical agency beyond detection, or that it 
should have been effected by Mr. Home's foot ? ' " 

After the perusal of this letter, Sir David published an answer, either 
denying in Mo Mr. Coleman's statements, or shuflSing out of them in the 
following way. After alluding to the conversation which Mr. Coleman had 
with him at the Athenaeum Club, he says : — 

" I may once for all admit, that both Lord Brougham and myself acknowledged that 
we were puzzled with Mr. Home's performances, and could not account for them. 

" Neither of us profess to be expounders of conundrums, whether verbal or mechanical, 
but if we had been permitted to take a peep beneath the drapery of Mr. Cox's table, we 
should have been spared the mortification of this confession." 

As specimens of the form of denials which Sir David gave to the 
allegations of Mr. Coleman, the following items may serve : — 

'■ When all our hands loere upon the table, noises were heard ; rappings in abundance, 
and when we rose up, the table actually rose, as appeared to me, from the ground. This 
result I do not pretend to explain, but rather than bdieve that spirits made the noises, I 
will conjecture that the raps were produced by Mr. Home's toes — or as Dr. Schiff has 
shown, ' hy the repeated displacement of the tendon of the peroneus longus muscle, in the 
sheath in which it slides behind the external malleolus, and rather than believe that spirits 
raised the table, I wiU conjecture, that it was done by the agency of Mr. Home's feet 
which were always below it." 

It seems sad, nothing short of humiliating indeed, to find a man like 
Sir David Brewster — one who, as a scientist himself, should have been the 
first to give a hospitable welcome to a set of phenomena which involved 
so many hitherto unknown phases of science, as sounds and motions by 
invisible agency — driven to such rude uncourteous denials, or evasions 
unworthy of his character either as a gentleman or a man of learning, in 
order to dispose of facts which transcended the sum of Ms behef, and Ms 
knowledge. 

The whole correspondence however — which we may add was pursued 
on both sides of the question, in the same spirit as the above,- — was shortly 
after summed up, at least as far as the impartial portion of the public were 
concerned — by a letter from Mr. T. A. Trollope, a gendeman whose 
position in the literary and social world is quite as pronounced as that 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 141 

of Sir David Brewster himself. It was addressed to Mr. J. S. Rymer of 
Ealing, and was afterwards published in the papers in connection with 
the entire correspondence. It is as follows : — 

" Florence, October 23, 1855. 

" My dear Sir, — I have read with much regret the letters from Sir David Brewster 
printed in the Morning Advertiser, to which you have called my attention ; and although 
it is extremely painful for me to come out from my tranquil obscurity into the noise and 
wholly inconclusive bickerings of paper warfare, it is impossible for me when called on, 
to refuse my testimony to facts of which I was a witness. 

" Sir David writes — that when he was present together with Lord Brougham and Mr. 
Cox at Cox's Hotel — it was not true that a large dining-table was moved about in a most 
extraordinary manner. Further on he states that — ' the table was covered with copious 
drapery beneath which nobody was allowed to look.' These italics are Sir David's.* 

" I declare that at your house at Ealing, on an evening subsequent to Sir David's 
meeting with Mr. Home at Cox's Hotel, in the presence of Sir David, myself, and of other 
persons, a large and very heavy dining-table was moved about in a most extraordinary 
manner ; that Sir David was urged both by Mr. Home and by yourself to look under the 
cloth and under the table, that he did look under it, and that whilst he was so looking, the 
table ivas much moved, and ^ohile he was looking, and while the table was moving, he avowed 
that he saw the movement. 

" Sir David Brewster further writes, that on this same evening the spirits were very 
active, prolific of raps of various intonations, making tables heavy or light at command, 
tickling knees, male and female, but always on the side next the Medium. I was repea- 
tedly touched on either knee, and on the lower leg, but I experienced no sensation at all 
akin to ' tickling,' neither did any of those present, who were similarly touched say that 
they were — or give any token of being ' tickled.' Moreover I affirm that Sir David 
Brewster, who sat next to me, declared to me at the time of being touched that he was 
touched on both knees. . . . Nor did he then speak of being ' tickled.' 

" Indeed the phraseology of this part of his letter is matter of the greatest astonish- 
ment to me. For it should seem wholly impossible that a man of Sir David Brewster's 
character, standing, and social position, in the grave and public examination of a question 
on which a young man's honour and character depend, if no yet higher interests are con- 
cerned, should intentionally seek to prejudic(; the issue in the minds of his readers, by a 
vulgar jest, puerile to those earnest enquirers who disbelieve the Spiritual origin of these 
phenomena, inexpressibly revolting to those who believe therein, and which, falling from 
less respected lips, would by all be termed mere ribaldry. 

" I must add one more remark on other passages of Sir David's letter. ' The party 
present at Mr. Cox's,' he writes, 'sat down to a small table, Mr. Home having previously 
requested us to examine if there was any machinery about his person, an examination 
however which we decHned to make.' A few lines further on he says, with reference to 
the phenomena which then occurred, ' I conjectm-e that they might be produced by machinery 
attached to the loioer extremities of Mr. Home.' Now I submit, that these two statements 
should not stand together. It appears to me both morally unjust, and philosophically 
unsound, in the examination of evidence, first to decline the proferred means of ascertain- 
ing the absence of machinery, and then to assume its presence. 

" I should not, my dear sir, do all that duty I think requires of me in this case, were I 
to conclude without stating very solemnly, that after many opportunities of witnessing 
and investigating the phenomena caused by, or happening to, Mr. Home, I am wholly 
convinced that be what may their origin, and cause, and nature, they are not produced by 
any fraud, machinery, juggling, illusion, or trickery on his part. 
" I am, my dear Sir, 

" Always most faithfully yours, 

"T. Adolphus Teollope. 

" To John Smith Rhymer, Esq., Ealing." 

Here this episode in connection with Sir David Brewster must rest. It 
is of importance that it should be recorded in this place for several reasons. 
First — Although the correspondence might with more justice to the young 
gentleman so harshly attacked and condemned without trial or evidence, 

* This statement is emphatically denied by Mr. Cox in letters preceding Mr. Trollope's. 



142 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

have been maintained in private, its publication served to obtain for 
Spiritualism, hundreds of investigators, few if any of whom could be found 
to duplicate Sir David Brewster's views of common sense, morality, or 
justice. Next — The position occupied by the disputants, commanded a 
notoriety for the case which it could scarcely have else obtained, and finally, 
the palpable animus which could have induced a man in Sir David Brewster's 
position, to descend to misrepresentation, evoked, as it deserved, a sentiment 
of indignation, which operated most favourably, both for Mr. Home, and 
the cause he represented. The young Anglo-American became all the 
fashion. Feted by potentates and nobles, courted, honoured, and sought for 
in every direction, it is not too much to allege, as the author can confidently 
do from many years' knowledge of this famous medium, that he preserved 
under all circumstances, his integrity and singleness of purpose. He sought 
no favours, accepted no fees (though he became the recipient of princely gifts 
and tokens of royal munificence). He was never vain-glorious, conceited, 
nor presumptuous. At times he was what he himself called " out of power," 
and though these seasons of incapacity to produce phenomena, sometimes 
lasted for weeks, the author can positively assert on her own, as well as 
on the testimony of hosts of the most authentic witnesses, that he was never 
known to supplement these mediumistic recessions by the smallest attempt 
at fraud or deception. Thus, though he became the subject of universal 
attack from those whose interest or predilection determined their antago- 
nistic attitude towards Spiritualism, he also became the centre of attraction 
to vast multitudes, who ow^ed to him their first demonstrable proofs of the 
soul's immortality, and restoration to those, whom bereaved mourners had 
deemed for ever lost to them. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 
Mr. D. D. Home's Manifestations. 

It may appear strange to those who consider how unprecedented in modern 
experience all the phenomena of Spirit communion are, that their recital 
excites so little attention and the repetition of spiritualistic narratives so 
soon palls upon the minds of the recipients ; but the truth is, there exists 
too little variety amongst these phenomena to render reiteration tolerable. 

Then again, Spirit communications are for the most part addressed to 
individuals, and the innate selfishness of humanity renders personal matter 
wholly uninteresting except to the parties immediately concerned. 

As the intention of this work is to prepare a record for the use of future 
generations, we feel compelled to avoid the tedium of useless repetition on 
the one hand, and on the other to send down to posterity a complete 
set of such representative cases as will display the nature of the spiritual 
phenomena manifested in the nineteenth century. • It is with this view that 
we select a few of Mr. D. D. Home's remarkable manifestations, as repre- 




S . C . Hall 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 143 

sentative cases which it would be difficult to transcend in interest. The 
following narrative, pubUshed in the London Spiritualist of March 30th, 
1877, was communicated by the charming authoress, Mrs. S. C. Hall, and 
reads as follows : — 

EASTER EVE — IN 1867. 
BY MRS. S. C. HALL. 

" The near approach of, perhaps, the happiest of our Festivals, sends my memory back 
to, I think, the most marvellous of all my experiences in Spiritualism : there may be 
among your readers some vi^ho will thank me for preserving and publishing a record of it. 

" I did not write concerning it at the time it occurred ; yet I can recall vividly every 
one of the remarkable incidents : they are as fresh in my mind to-day as they were ten 
years ago, for they ' happened ' on the Easter Eve of the year 1867 : and the Easter Eve 
of 1877 is now nigh at hand. 

"Although my recollection of the scene and circumstances is very vivid, I remembered 
that my friend Mrs. Henry Senior (the widow of Colonel Senior) had made some notes 
concerning them. I wrote to her on the subject, and the letter she has written in reply 
I ask you to print in the number of your publication that you will issue on the Easter 
Eve of the present year. 

" I need do little more than endorse, which I do, every sentence in her letter. 1 have 
had more startling experiences in Spiritualism ; but none at once so wonderful and so 
beautiful, so intensely convincing, so happy in comforting assurance of its holy truth, 
■thoroughly upholding and confirming the faith that has, thank God, been my blessing 
through the whole of a long life. 

" It was not a dark sitting, but the light was subdued, and for a few minutes entirely 
excluded, when an absolute blaze of light filled the conservatory. We saw shadows (but 
having forms) pass and repass repeatedly, brought out into distinctness by the brilliancy 
of the light. When Mr. Home was ' raised ' (as he was twice) the gas in the chandelier 
was lit : although reduced, it was quite strong enough to mark his gradual progress 
upwards from the chair to the ceiling." 

Then follows Mrs. Senior's paper, which is quoted verbatim, with a few 
unimportant excisions : — 

" 5, Prince of Wales's Terrace, Tuesday. 
" Last Saturday (Easter Eve) we had a most wonderful smncc at Mr. Hall's. I had 
long been telling him that I was convinced that allowing scoffers and unbelievers to come 
to our stances spoiled them, and that if he would but harden his kind heart for once, and 
allow us to have a seljisl-i seance, I was sure it would be good — and last week he said to 
me laughingly that I should have my wish before I returned to Ireland, that Daniel had 
promised to come to them on Saturday, and that there should be no one asked but 
myself and Lady Dunsany — and so it was arranged. Lady Dunsany called for me on her 
way. We found Mr. and Mrs. Hall alone, but Daniel arrived soon after, and said when 
he entered the room that he had a very bad headache, which would, he feared, spoil our 
seaTice ; however, he sat down and chatted a little, and I then asked him to come over to 
the piano and '' croon," as I called it, as I had observed that his doing so always gave us 
a good stance. He played and sang several things, and then Lady Dunsany asked him 
for a soft Russian air of his wife's. He had not been playing it more than a minute, when 
a chair, which was at some distance from the piano, slid up to it, and placed itself beside 
him. I was sitting close to the piano on the other side, and saw it move before he did — 
' Oh !' he said — ' Here is Sacha' (his wife, who had left earth), and he went on playing 
some time longer, though his hands became perfectly stiff, and it was evident that they 
were not moved by his own volition. After a time his hands were withdrawn from the 
piano, and he became entranced, turned round the piano stool, and knelt down, and with 
hands clasped, poured forth a most beautiful prayer. . . . Mr, Home then came out 
of his trance, quite refreshed and pleased, and asked us to sit down at the table, which at 
once began to vibrate and ' tremble,' whilst loud and heavy knocks were heard upon it, 
upon the floor and the furniture. Presently the accordion was touched, and by the 
alphabet was spelt out ' We wiU play the earth-life of one who was not of earth.' Mr. 
HaU said ' That's nonsense,' but I answered, ' It must be our Lord's life,' and so it 
proved. First we had sweet, soft, simple music, like a lullaby, for a few minutes, 
then it became intensely sad for some time, and then we distinctly heard through 



144 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

the music the regular tramp of a body of men marching, and we exclaimed, 
' The march to Calvary.' Then the tapping sound of a hammer on a nail, the 
ringing sound of metal upon metal, then a pause, and afterwards came a crash, and 
a burst of wailing, which seemed to fill the room and the house ; it was followed by 
the most glorious triumphal music we any of us had ever heard ; it thrilled to all our 
hearts, and we were in tears when it was over — it certainly was not of earth. It evidently 
meant the resurrection of our Lord. We stiU sat at the table, but nothing more was done 
for some time ; then the mushn curtains were draped round Mr. Home ; and he was 
raised from the ground in them. . . . Then Mr. Hall's face and chest shone like 
silver, and they spelled out, ' He who giveth shall receive light.' The accordion was 
carried round the circle, played on Mr. Hall's head, then placed on my shoulder next it, 
and went to Mrs. Hall, on my right hand, and played on her head ; then played in the air 
round the circle (Mr. Home's hand not being near the instrument) ' The Last Rose of 
Summer,' and several other ahs. Afterwards a great deal of martial music was played by 
a cousin of Lady Dunsany's, who had been in the Dragoons, and who had ' passed away ' 
in India, and who always comes to her. After this the spirit of a child, whose mother had 
sent Mrs. Hall flowers that morning, came and gave us each a flower. Mr. Home was then 
lifted to the ceiling. We heard his nail against it, and he said, ' Oh, I wish I had a pencil 
to make a mark.' However, he then came down, and Mr. Hall handed him a pencil, in 
case he should be again raised ; and five minutes afterwards ho was again lifted up, and 
made a mark on the ceiling, which will remain there as a proof of what was done. When 
Mr. Home returned to the table we were all toiiched by hands on our brows and on our 

hands. Sacha gave each of us her peculiar little pinch, and I was touched by both H 

and E , and Lady Dunsany's cousin flipped all our hands with a flower. After a little 

time the spirits spelled out, ' We can do no more. Good night. God bless you ; ' and 
we heard the knocks and sounds die away in the distance out of doors, and ive felt that it 
was all over. We were all beyond measure grateful for being allowed to witness what we 
could never forget as long as our lives lasted. That burst of music was still thrilling in 
all our hearts — nothing composed by mortal could ever touch it. I should have said that 
just before Mr. Home was hfted up to the ceiling the first time, his face and his chest 
shone with a sUvery light, as Mr. HaU's had done. But, indeed, I have not told many of 
the minor things that took place. It was an evening of wonders." 

The next illustrative seance which we deem it necessary to associate with 
this record is supplied by the late Henry D. Jencken, Esq., barrister— a 
gentleman too well known in the elite of London professional society as 
well as among the Spiritualistic ranks, to need any additional proof of the 
authenticity of his narrative. 

Mr. Jencken himself was a witness of the facts narrated, and we may here 
add that Professor William Crookes in his published work entitled " Pheno- 
mena of Spiritualism," alludes to the seance about to be detailed, affirming 
that he received the narrative from the lips of three of the witnesses, 
namely, Lord Lindsay, the Earl of Dunraven, and Captain Wynne. . 

Mr. Jencken, writing for the February number of Human Nature, says : — 

"manifestations through MR. HOME." 

" Mr. Home had passed into the trance still so often witnessed ; rising from his seat, he 
laid hold of an arm-chair, which he held at arm's length, and was then lifted about three 
feet clear off the ground ; travelling thus suspended in space, he placed the chair next Lord 
Adare, and made a circuit round those in the room, being lowered and raised as he passed 
each of us. One of those present measured the elevation, and passed his leg and arm 
underneath Mr. Home's feet. The elevation lasted from four to five minutes. On resum- 
ing his seat, Mr. Home addressed Captain Wynne, communicating news to him of which 
the departed alone could have been cognisant. 

" The spirit form that had been seen reclining on the sofa, now stepped up to Mr. 
Home and mesmerised him ; a hand was then seen luminously visible over his head, 
about 18 inches in a vertical line from his head. The trance state of Mr. Home now 
assumed a different character ; gently rising he spoke a few words to those present, and 
then opening the door proceeded into the corridor ; a voice then said — ' He will go out of 
this window and come in at that window.' The only one who heard the voice was the 
Master of Lindsay, and a cold shudder seized upon him as he coni^emplated the possibihty 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 145 

of this occurring, a feat which the great height of the third floor wiudows in Ashley Place 
rendered more than ordinarily perilous. The others present, however, having closely 
questioned him as to what he had heard, he at first repHed, ' I dare not tell you ; ' when, 
to the amazement of all, a voice said, ' You must tell ; tell directly.' The Master then 
said, ' Yes ; yes, 'terrible to say, he will go out at that window and come in at this ; do 
not be frightened, be quiet,' Mr. Home now re-entered the room, and opening the 
drawing-room window, was pushed out demi-horizontally into space, and carried from one 
window of the drawing-room to the farthermost window of the adjoining room. This 
feat being performed at a height of about 60 feet from the ground, naturally caused a 
shudder in aU present. The body of Mr. Home, when it appeared at the window of the 
adjoining room, was shunted into the room feet foremost — the window being only 18 
inches open. As soon as he had recovered his footing he laughed and said, ' I wonder 
what a policeman would have said had he seen me go round and round like a teetotum ! ' 
The scene was, however, too terrible — too strange, to elicit a smile ; cold beads of per- 
spiration stood on every brow, while a feeling pervaded all as if some great danger had 
passed ; the nerves of those present had been kept in a state of tension that refused to 
respond to a joke. A change now passed over Mr. Home, one often observable during the 
trance states, indicative, no doubt, of some other power operating on his system. Lord 
Adare had in the meantime stepped up to the open window in the adjoining room to close 
it — the cold air, as it came pouring in, chilling the room ; when, to his surprise, he only 
found the window 18 to 24 inches open ! This puzzled him, for how could Mr. Home have 
passed outside through a window only 18 to 24 inches open. Mr. Home, however, soon set his 
doubts at rest ; stepping up to Lord Adare, he said, ' No, no ; I did not close the window ; 
I passed thus into the air outside.' An invisible power then supported Mr. Home all but 
horizontally in space, and thrust his body into space through the open window, head fore- 
most, bringing him back again feet foremost into the room, shunted not unlike a shutter 
into a basement below. The circle rotmd the table having re-formed, a cold current of 
air passed over those present, like the rushing of winds. This repeated itself several 
times. The cold blast of air, or electric fluid, or call it what you may, was accompanied 
by a loud whistle Uke a gust of wind on the mountain top, or through the leaves of the 
forest in late autumn ; the sound was deep, sonorous, and powerful in the extreme, and 
a shudder kept passing over those present, who all heard and felt it. This rushing sound 
lasted quite ten minutes, in broken intervals of one or two minutes. All present were 
much surprised ; and the interest became intensified by the unknown tongues in which 
Mr. Home now conversed. Passing from one language to another in rapid succession, he 
spoke for ten minutes in unknown languages. 

" A spirit form now became distinctly visible ; it stood next to the Master of Lindsay, 
clad, as seen on former occasions, in a long robe with a girdle, the feet scarcely touching 
the ground, the outline of the face only clear, and the tones of the voice, though 
sufiiciently distinct to be understood, whispered rather than spoken. Other voices were 
now heard, and large globes of phosphorescent lights passed slowly through the room." 

Mr. H. D. Jencken, in the March number of Human Nature, continues 
his interesting account of the spirit manifestations through the mediumship 
of Mr. D. D. Honle, as personally witnessed and carefully examined by 
himself and other competent investigators. He narrates an instance of 
the elongation of Mr. Home's body, and gives the measurements (care- 
fully made at the time) of the elongation of each part of the body. The 
most unique and striking portion of the phenomenon in this instance was 
the elongation and. shortening of the hand. Mr. Jencken says : — 

"As the weight of the testimony depends much upon the accuracy of the tracing 
taken, I will describe my method in making the outline. I caused Mr. Home to place his 
hand firmly on a sheet of paper, and then carefully traced an outline of the hand. At the 
wrist joint I placed a pencil against the ' trapezium,' a small bone at the end of the 
phalange of the thumb. The hand gradually widened and elongated about an inch, then 
contracted and shortened about an inch. At each stage I made a tracing of the hand, 
causing the pencil point to be firmly kept at the wrist. The fact of the elongating and 
contracting of the hand I unmistakably estabUshed, and, be the cause what it may, the 
fact remains ; and in giving the result of my measurements, and the method adopted to 
satisfy myself that I had not been self -deceived, I am, I believe, rendering the first 
positive measurement of the extension and contraction of a human organism. 

" The phenomenon of elongation I am aware has been questioned, and I do not 
quarrel with those who maintain their doubt, despite all that may be affirmed. In my 
lO 



146 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

own experience I have gone through the same phases of doubt, and uttered disbelief of 
what I was seeing. The first time I witnessed an elongation, although I measured the 
extension of the wrist, I would not, could not, credit my senses ; but having witnessed 
this fact some ten or twelve times, and that in the presence of fifty witnesses, from first 
to last, who have been present at these stances where those elongations occurred, all 
doubts have been removed ; and that the capacity to extend is not confined to Mr. Home, 
was shown some months ago at Mr. Hall's, where, at a seance held at his house, both Mr. 
Home and Miss Bertolacci became elongated. The stretching out and contracting of the 
limbs, hands, fingers, above described, I have only witnessed on this one occasion, and I 
was much pleased to have a steady Oxonian to aid me in making the measurements 
above detailed." 

Mr. Jencken also relates the following incident of this seance: — 

" Mr. Home (in trance), now took a violet and a few leaves, and, kneeling down at the 
hearth, stirred the fire with his hand. He then showed us the flower, and seizing it with 
the fire-tongs, placed it in the fire. I distinctly saw the leaves burn away, and, on with- 
dravsdng the fire-tongs, only the stem was left. Twice he repeated the burning of the 
flower, then, handing the fire-tongs to Miss Bertolacci, he stepped on one side, and we saw 
the flower being replaced between the nippers of the fire-tongs. I asked whether they had 
re-formed the flower, to which he replied, ' No ; the flower has never been burnt, only 
shielded, protected from the fire ; the freshness of the flower has, however, been destroyed.' 
He then handed me the violet and leaves, which Miss Bertolacci took, and I believe has 
preserved. Mr. Home then showed his hands, which felt harsher and harder than in 
their normal state." 

Mr. Jencken adds that at a recent seance with Mr. Home, tongues of 
fire formed in an irregular circle round Mr. Home's head, flickering in fits 
and starts, from one to three inches long. 

The "author would only add in this connection that she has herself 
witnessed Mr. Home's elongation several times in circles held at the resi- 
dence of John Luxmoore, Esq., i6, Gloucester Square, Hyde Park, 
London, and also been present on occasions when Mr. Home laid his head 
on a blazing coal fire without injury, handled blazing coals and placed the 
same in the hands of John C. Luxmoore, Esq., — the host — Professor 
Plumtree, Madame Maurigy, of 51, Albion Street, Hyde Park, and 
the author. 

We might enlarge this hst of wonderful phenomena to the dimensions of 
a thick volume and still fail to relate all the marvels that Spirits have been 
enabled to display through the mediumship of Mr. D. D. Home. We 
must however conclude our notices of his remarkable powers by the 
following extracts from the work already referred to, namely " Researches 
in the Phenomena of SpirituaUsm," by Wm. Crookes, F.R.S. 

This emment scientist was not only for some time an industrious investi- 
gator into the phenomena of Spirit communion, but he was bold enough 
to publish the result of those researches, and to maintain the purely occult 
origin of the manifestations he witnessed, in lengthy controversies with 
his fellow scientists, and divers members of the journalistic fraternity. 

Professor Crookes was aided and sustained in his brave and unconserva- 
tive position, by Dr. Higgins, Sergeant Cox, and others of an equally 
eminent rank in the realms of science. 

Professor Crookes' papers were first published in the Quarterly Journal 
of Science, but it is from the volume of his collected articles that the 
following excerpts are now taken. He says : — 

" That certain physical phenomena, such as the movement of material substances and 
the production of sounds resembling electric discharges, occur, under circumstances in 
which they cannot be explained by any physical law at present known, is a fact of which 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 147 

I am as certain as of the most elementary fact in chemistry. My whole scientific educa- 
tion has been one long lesson in exactness of observation, and I wish it to be distinctly 
understood that this firm conviction is the result of most careful investigation." 

"Among the remarkable phenomena which occur under Mr. Home's influence, the 
most striking, as well as the most easily tested with scientific accuracy are, first, the 
alteration in the weight of bodies ; and second, the playing tunes on musical instruments 
(generally the accordion for convenience of portability) without direct human interven- 
tion, under conditions rendering contact or connection with the keys impossible. Not 
until I had witnessed these facts some half-dozen times, and scrutinised them with all the 
critical acumen I possess, did I become convinced of their objective reality. StUl, desiring 
to place the matter beyond the shadow of a doubt, I invited Mr. Home on several occasions 
to come to my own house, where, in the presence of a few scientific inquirers, these pheno- 
mena could be submitted to crucial experiments." 

Mr. Crookes then proceeds to detail with unnecessary accuracy the pre- 
cautions he used to surround his experiments with indubitable proofs that 
Mr, Home had no agency in their production. 

The substance of the experiments was as follows. In a large room well 
lighted with gas, a wire cage was used in which the accordion could freely 
expand and contract without the possibility of human contact, with the 
single exception that it was held suspended in the cage by one of Home's 
hands extended over and resting upon the upper wire of the cage. This 
was under the table, but in such a position that the company could witness 
all the proceedings ; Professor Crookes's assislant being permitted even 
to go under the table and give an accurate report of what was going 
on. In this position there was first the regular accordion movements and 
sounds with the instrument suspended from Home's hand ; then it was 
taken out and put in the hand of the next sitter, still continuing to play ; 
and finally, after being returned to the cage it was clearly seen by the 
company generally, moving about with no one touching it. The final 
paragraph of this description we give in the language of Mr. Crookes 
himself : — 

"The accordion was now taken without any visible touch from Mr. Home's hand, 
which lie removed from it entirely, and placed upon the table, where it was taken by the 
person next to him, and seen, as were now both his hands, by all present. I and two 
others present saw the accordion distinctly floating about inside of the cage with no 
visible support. This was repeated a second time after a short interval. Mr. Home 
presently re-inserted his hand in the cage and again took hold of the accordion. It then 
commenced to play, at first chords and runs, and afterwards a well-known sweet and 
plaintive melody, winch it executed perfectly in a very beautiful manner. Whilst this 
tune was being played, I grasped Mr. Home's arm below the elbow, and gently slid my 
hand down it until I touched the top of the accordion. He was not moving a muscle. 
His other hand was on the table, visible to all, and his feet were under the feet of those 
next to him." 

Prof. Crookes occupies quite a considerable amount of his work by 
republishing the vigorous lines of defence he was compelled to take up 
against his brother scientists, whose virulent opposition was awakened by 
the immense importance attached to his (Prof. Crookes') statements, con- 
sequently also to the influence which the obnoxious and unquenchable 
facts of Spiritualism derived from the allegations of so cautious and capable 
an investigator. 

On the multitude and variety of his researches he says : — 

" I may at once answer one objection which has been made in several quarters, viz. ; 
that my results would carry more weight had they been tried a greater number of times, 
ard with other persons besides Mr. Home. The fact is, I have been working at the subject 



148 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

for two years, and have found nine or ten different persons who possess psychic power in 
more or less degree ; but its development in Mr. D. D. Home is so powerful that having 
satisfied myself by careful experiment that the phenomena observed were genuine, I have, 
merely as a matter of convenience, carried on my experiments with him, in preference to 
working with others in whom the power existed in a less striking degree. Most of the 
experiments I am about to describe, however, have been tried with another person other 
than Mr. Home and in his absence." 

It vsrould be unnecessary to follow out these experiments, with the result 
of which most Spiritual investigators are familiar ; we would only show how 
thorough they were by the following remarks : — 

" My readers will remember that, with the exception of cases especially mentioned, the 
occurrences have taken place in my own house, in the light, and with only private friends 
present besides the medium. 

" I have seen luminous points of Hght darting about and settling on the heads of 
different persons ; I have had questions answered by the flashing of a bright light a 
desired number of times in front of my face. I have seen sparks of light rising from the 
table, and again falling upon the table, striking it with an audible sound. I have had an 
alphabetical communication given by luminous flashes occurring before me in the air, 
whilst my hand was moving about amongst them. I have seen a luminous cloud floating 
upwards to a picture. Under the strictest test conditions, I have more than once had a 
solid, self-luminous, crystalhne body placed in my hand by a hand which did not belong 
to any person in the room. In the light I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a 
heliotrope on a side table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady : and on some 
occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to the form of a hand and 
carry small objects about. 

" The forms of hands are frequently felt at dark seances, or under circumstances where 
they cannot be seen. More rarely I have seen the hands. I will here give no instances in 
which the phenomenon has occurred in darkness, but wUl simply select a few of the 
numerous instances in which I have seen the hands in the Hght. 

" A beautifully formed smaU hand rose up from an opening in a dining-table and gave 
me a flower ; it appeared, and then disappeared three tim'es at intervals, affording me 
ample opportunity of satisfying myself that it was as real in appearance as my own. 
This occurred in the light, in my own room, whilst I was holding the medium's hands 
and feet. 

" On another occasion a small hand and arm like a baby's appeared, playing about a 
lady who was sitting next to me. It then passed to me, and patted my arms and pulled 
my coat several times. 

" At another time a finger and thumb were seen to pick petals from a flower in Mr. 
Home's button-hole and lay them in front of several persons who were sitting near him. 

"The hands and arms do not always appear to me to be solid and life-like. Some- 
times, indeed, they present more the appearance of a nebulous cloud partly condensed into 
the form of a hand 

" To the touch, the hand sometimes appears icy cold and dead, at other times warm and 
life-like, grasping my own with the firm pressure of an old friend. 

" I have retained one of these hands in my own, firmly resolved not to let it escape. 
There was no struggle or effort made to get loose, but it gradually seemed to resolve itseK 
into vapour, and faded in that manner from my grasp. 



" On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches from 
the ground. On another occasion, to avoid the suspicion of this being in some way per- 
formed by herself, the lady knelt on the chair in such a manner that its four feet were 
visible to us. It then rose about three inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, 
and then slowly descended. At another time two children, on separate occasions, rose 
from the floor with their chairs, in full daylight, under (to me) most satisfactory con- 
ditions ; for I was kneehng and keeping close watch upon the feet of the chair, and observ- 
ing that no one might touch them. 

"The most striking cases of levitation which I have witnessed have been with Mr. 
Home. On three separate occasions have I seen him raised completely from the floor of 
the room, once sitting in an easy chair, once kneeling on his chair, and once standing up. 
On each occasion I had a full opportunity of watching the occurrence as it was taking place. 



"As in the former case, Mr. Home was the medium. A phantom form came from a 
corner of the room, took an accordion in its hand, and then glided about the room, playing 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



[49 



the instrument. The form was visible to all many minutes, Mr. Home being seen at the 
same time. Coming rather close to a lady who was sitting apart from the rest of the 
company, she gave a slight cry, upon which it vanished." 

Such are some of the phenomena obtained by a gentleman who pledges a 
name and fame standing as high as that of any scientist in the nineteenth 
century for the truth of all he alleges ; who backs up his own testimony 
with that of numerous other equally reliable and eminent witnesses, all of 
whom have everything to lose, and nothing to gain by the assertions they 
make. It only needs to add, that all the phenomena above alluded to were 
produced in the light, in private houses, and under circumstances which 
rendered the interposition of human agency impossible. 

If the Spiritualists themselves would but remember that — until Spirit 
communion is the common experience of the race — the world at large, 
and investigators seeking for truth in especial, have the right to demand 
that the records of phenomena shall be placed on equally unquestionable 
bases, the columns of the Spiritual journals would no longer be desecrated 
by the unseemly charges of bare-faced fraud from one party and savage 
recriminations from another. Spiritualism would ascend to the majestic 
pedestal of immutable truth like a phoenix rising out of the ashes of dead 
faiths and fleeting superstitions, and ere long it would compel the acknow- 
ledgment of humanity that it was the divine science of soul, and the reUgion 
of science.* 



CHAPTER XX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 

The effect of Mr. Home's presence in England, the wide-spread reports of 
the marvels occurring through his mediumship, combined with the furious 
journaUstic warfare which these reports elicited, acted like firebrands thrown 
into the midst of combustible materials, the sparks from which filled the 
air, and set the entire mental atmosphere ablaze with Spiritual influences. 

True it is, that the young medium's marvellous gifts were displayed only 
amongst that high class of society in which circumstances had contributed 
to cast his lot, and through whose personal interest he became the guest of 
many of the nobles and notables of the day. 

Still the contagion of the Spiritual outpouring was in the air, and vast 
numbers of persons to whom Mr. Home's seances were but a report, became 
stimulated to the endeavour to obtain manifestations through private experi- 
ments in their own families. The result was — as all experienced Spiritualists 
would anticipate, that demonstrations of medial power began to arise in 
vast numbers of family circles, and those who could not enjoy the privilege 
of investigating through the Transatlantic medium, were soon enabled to 
prove for themselves the wonderful facts of which rumour had informed 
them. 

* For further account of Mr. Home's mediumship and special ikmccs, consult his own biography 
entitled " Incidents of my Life : By D. D. Home," files of the London Spiritual Magazine, Owen's 
"Footfalls on the Boundaries of Another World," and other EngUsh Spiritual publications of this 
century.— (Author.) 



I50 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The chances are, that we should very generally find the modus operandi 
of individual investigation exemplified by the experience of Mrs. De 
Morgan — the wife of the celebrated mathematical professor — who, having 
been assured by Spirit friends communicating through Mrs. Hayden, that 
she could have equally good manifestations with those she then witnessed 
in her own house, at once proceeded to put in practice the instructions 
given, and form circles, the result of which soon became apparent in the 
development of remarkable medial powers in Mrs. De Morgan herself, in 
some members of her household, her friends, and not a few of her 
servants. 

Experiences of this character soon began to multiply. Professor De 
Morgan, although not avowedly interested to the same extent as his 
estimable lady, candidly rendered his testimony to the occurrence of the 
marvellous phenomena which proved Spirit communion. In a short space 
of time after the advent of Mr. Home in England, the circles known to be 
held constantly, in various famihes, might be numbered by the thousand, 
and those who publicly ranged themselves as advocates of the truth of the 
communion, included some of the most distinguished and noteworthy 
persons of the day. Amongst the latter, and especially remarkable as 
being the earliest of the avowed believers of Spiritualism in England, may 
be named, Mary and William Howitt and Samuel Carter and Maria Hall ; 
all authors celebrated for their admirable writings, and ladies and gentlemen 
as much esteemed for their irreproachable private lives as for their eminent 
literary abilities — Dawson Rogers ; a gentlem.an of high social standing and 
influential press associations — the Countess, now Duchesse de Pomar, and 
Countess of Caithness, a lady who takes the highest rank both as an 
authoress and leader of aristocratic European society ; T. P. Barkas, 
F.R.S. ; Lady Otway, Frederick Tennyson, Robert Owen, and his son, 
Robert Dale Owen ; Lord Brougham, Lord Ly( ton. Archbishop Whateley, 
the Earl of Dunraven, Lord A dare, the Master of Lindsay, Lady Shelley, 
Mr. Sergeant Cox ; Wm. Wilkinson, Esq., the eminent soUcitor, and other 
members of his family ; Sir Edwin Landseer ; more than one member of 
the eminent literary family of the Trollopes ; Mrs. Browning, the celebrated 
poetess; George Thompson, the well known philanthropist ; Major Drayson 
the eminent astronomer ; Benjamin Coleman, Esq., and his amiable wife 
and daughter ; John Jones, Esq., of Enmore Park, Norwood ; Sir Chas. 
Isham, Bart., of Lamport Hall, Northampton; the Countess of Paulett; 
Mrs. McDougall Gregory, widow of the celebrated Dr. Gregory of Edin- 
burgh ; Lady Dunsany, Lady Helena Newenham, J. C. Luxmoore, Esq. ; 
Professor A. R. Wallace, the celebrated naturalist ; Cromwell Varley, F.R.S.; 
the renowned electrician ; W. F. Barrett, Professor of Physics in the Royal 
College of Science, Dublin ; Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., Professor of Physics, 
Cambridge University ; the Earl of Crauford and Balcarres, F.R.S., President 
of the Royal Astronomical Society ; Dr. Lockhart Robertson, F.R.S., Editor, 
Journal of Science ; Drs. Ashburner and EUiotson, Dr. George Wylde, 
Dr. Robert Chambers, F.R.S. ; Professor Cassel, LL.D. ; Captain R. F. 
Burton, the celebrated traveller ; Dr. Fenton Cameron, Henry D. Jencken, 
barrister ; Professor Crookes, the renowned chemist ; Mrs. Anna Cora 
Ritchie, Thos. Shorter, Esq., known under the nom de plume of "Brevior ;" 
Dr. Jacob Dixon, the eminent homceopathist ; Wm. Tebb, Esq., and his 
lady; Gerald Massey, the renowned poet; C. C. Massey, the barrister; 
Hon. J. L. O'SuUivan, Rev. Sir Wm. Topham, A. Gooch, M.P. ; Dr. Gully, 
of Malvern ; Chas. Blackburn, Esq., of Parkfield, Didsbury, Manchester ; 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 151 

Jno. Fowler, Esq., of Liverpool, and Jas. Wason, Esq., barrister, of the 
same place ; Mrs. Honeywood, of Warwick Square, Belgravia ; Dr. 
Hitchman, LL.D., John Scott, Esq., of Belfast; John Rymer, Esq., of 
Ealing; M. and Madame Maurigy ; W. Cox, Esq., Jermyn Street, St. 
James', and a long hst of other ladies and gentlemen whose names we are 
not privileged to mention — to say nothing of hundreds of persons in the 
middle ranks of life, whose advocacy was of equal credit to the cause. 

It need hardly be added that since the above-named ladies and gentle- 
men contributed their influence and honourable names to bear the heat 
and burden of the early days of spiritual warfare, hundreds of others, 
scarcely less eminent or noteworthy, have graced the ranks of Spiritualism. 
Those who have become associated with the moving incidents of the grand 
historical drama will of course be mentioned hereafter, but a still larger 
number must necessarily be excluded, though most reluctantly on the 
author's part, from this over-crowded record. 

We recall the few names already cited, chiefly for the purpose of showing 
the class of individuals against whom the small wits of English journalism 
amused themselves by directing the shafts of ridicule and contempt, and 
that simply because they chose to beUeve what the testimony of their own 
senses proved to be truth. For this cause and for this only, the above-named 
parties were virtually branded either as fools., incapable of forming correct 
opinions, or knaves wicked enough to join in a world-wide system of 
imposition upon others. No doubt the critics had hardly calculated the 
sum of the insolence of which they were guilty; still its substance meant 
neither more nor less than the assertion that the believers in Spiritualism — 
be they whom they may — were either all deluded or all deluders, however 
wise or honest they may have been on every other subject but Spiritualism. 

Now it must be borne in mind that neither the gifts nor the messages of 
Spiritualism were limited to the aristocratic circles of Great Britain. 

In a great many cases it was found, that some of the best Mediums were 
developed amongst the poor patients who sought aid at the Mesmeric 
Infirmary. The servants in great famiUes also, who were often summoned 
to attend the circles of their masters and mistresses, at the suggestion of the 
communicating Spirits, frequently proved to be endowed with remarkable 
mediumistic powers, and these carried the tidings of the new revelation to 
persons of their own class, by whom quiet unostentatious methods of 
enquiry into Spiritualism were proceeding, with far more abundant results 
than the world at large was at all prepared for. 

Still there were circumstances tending to limit the earlier manifestations 
of Spirit power in Great Britain to private families, and the isolation of 
individual experiences. In the first place, there were no professional 
Mediums in England, but such as came from America, for some years. 

When European Mediums were either called upon or compelled — as was 
often the case — to abandon all other modes of gaining a livelihood, to 
devote themselves entirely to the exercise of their Spiritual gifts, it 
became an inevitable necessity that they should be recompensed for the 
time and labour involved in their services. It is only just to say, that in 
America — where every description of labour normal to the individual per- 
forming it, is recognised as natural and honourable — Mediumistic power 
was — -from the incipiency of the movement — classified with every other 
faculty, and as such acknowledged to be a legitimate means of earning a 
liveUhood. 

In Great Britain the attempt to establish a pharisaical distinction between 



152 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

what is sacred and secular, ever has, and still does, stigmatize professional 
mediumship as "a desecration," &c., &c. Making all due allowance 
for the fraudulent spirit so common to human nature, and therefore, so 
certain to be found in the ranks of Spiritualism as well as amongst all other 
classes of society, we have yet to see why professional mediumship is not as 
legitimate an occupation as professional editorship, or professional work 
done in any other capacity for which the Creator has fitted the creature. 

We have yet to learn what gifts are specially sacred and what — by con- 
verse — are profane. When we have sufficiently proved these distinctions, 
•we may be in a position to denounce the Mediums who claim the labourers' 
hire for their work. It is but justice to the sticklers for " sacred and pro- 
fane" gifts in humanity, to add, that they never affix these awkward lines 
of demarcation to the workers of any other denomination than those of 
Spiritualism ; the clergy as a body — from the archbishop who receives his 
twenty-five thousand pounds a year for Spiritual ministrations, to the poor 
curate upon his stipend of one hundred per annum — being deemed 
legitimately entitled to receive whatever they caji get, unrebuked and un- 
■questioned. Whether we are to consider the clerical calling as " profane " 
and therefore entitled to recompense, or ^'■too sacred" to be called in 
question at all, we have not yet been able to ascertain, but we do know for 
an absolute fact, that many an Englishman who does not hesitate to pay his 
quota of heavy rates to support the Church, has shrunk back in holy horror 
from paying a sixpenny fee to hear a fine Spiritual lecture, and excused 
himself on the ground that Mediumship was a " sacred gift," and should not 
be made the subject of mercenary traffic, &c., &c. Whether these asser- 
tions are designed to insinuate, that the Spirit Medium's gifts are from the 
Lord, and should not be paid, and those of the Bench of Bishops are from 
the other party, and may therefore become the subje'ct of traffic, we cannot 
exacdy determine. The inference is strong that way, and therefore, were 
it only for the sake of resisting the wholesale insult which this line of 
argument hurls against the clergy of all denominations, we ought to dis- 
regard such distinctions, or at least hold them in abeyance, until the Hne 
between the sacred and profane in human endowments is clearly defined. 
Meantime, the results of these curious opinions were not favourable to the 
general dissemination of Spiritualism in Great Britain. For many years 
the behef was a close communion affair ; the luxurious entertainment of 
those who could afford to encourage Transatlantic Mediums as their guests, 
or devote leisure time to the culture of spiritual gifts in small retired family 
circles. 

For a long time, the attempt to disseminate the knowledge thus obtained 
by aid of professional mediumship was so severely frowned down, that its 
earliest public exhibitions — as in the case of the Davenport Brothers — 
became occasions ■ for the display of violence and ruffianism that would 
have disgraced the darkest of ages. We may also understand why — with 
an immense array of titled names and distinguished literary and scientific 
celebrities as its patrons — Spiritualism remained for many years unrepre- 
sented by any public demonstration. 

In 1859, Mr. RolHn Squire, the young American gentleman mentioned 
in our French section, paid a brief visit to Europe, for the purpose of 
recruiting his health and enjoying a holiday tour. 

Both in this country and on the Continent, Mr. Squire exercised his 
medial powers for the edification of large circles of admirers. Still, like 
Mr. Home, Mr. Squire was only known within the charmed limits of 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 153 

aristocracy, or such journalistic commentators as were from time to time 
invited as witnesses of the marvels enacted in his presence. Mr. P. B. 
Randolph, an eccentric trance speaker, and Mrs. A. E. Newton, a vision 
seeress and clairvoyant, were also received amongst the haut ton of 
European Spiritualism, and each contributed their quota as honoured 
American visitors, in disseminating spiritual light amongst the more 
favoured part of the community. In 1864 the far-famed Davenport 
Brothers visited England for the first time. They were the only Mediums 
except the trance speakers, who had yet appeared in Europe through whom 
manifestations of spirit power could be given in public audiences. 

Professional Mediumship as above suggested, was at that time regarded 
with so much unreasoning distrust, that the announcement that what had 
hitherto been regarded as the " most sacred of gifts," was now to be made 
the subject of paying exhibitions, caused a thrill of horror to pervade even 
the minds of Spiritualists themselves. It was in deference then to this 
orthodox view of spiritual power and gifts, that the Davenports and their 
Entrepreneur, were induced at first to tender their inaugural manifestations 
in private circles, or gatherings convened according to custom, at the 
houses of the privileged few. 

As we feel justified in asserting that no subsequent phases of medium- 
ship exhibited on public platforms, have ever equalled in test conditions 
and clearness, the manifestations produced through the Davenport Brothers 
in the early days of their public career, we deem it a necessary part of the 
present record, to give a brief account of the phenomena which ordinarily 
transpired in their presence, and this we prefer to do, by reiterating a pub- 
lished statement attested by a large number of respectable witnesses, rather 
than offer the author's own unsustained views of these young men's 
Mediumship. 

Dr. Nichols, author of a sketch of the Davenport Brothers, during the 
very early portion of their career, says : " On the night of October nth, 
1864, a very distinguished company assembled at the residence of Mr. 
Dion Boucicault to witness the manifestations which are given in the 
presence of the Brothers Davenport." An account of the proceedings 
which transpired. Dr. Nichols alleges to have been drawn up and published 
by Mr. Boucicault himself. The following is a verbatim copy of the report 
in question : — 

" To the Editor of the 'Daily News.' 

" Sir, — A stance by the Brothers Davenport and Mr. W. Fay, took place in my house 
yesterday in the presence of Lord Bury, Sir Charles Nicholson, Sir John Gardiner, Sir C. 
Lennox Wyke, Rev. E. H. Newenham, Rev. W. Ellis, Captain E. A. Inglefield, Mr. Chas. 
Reade, Messrs. Jas. Matthews, Algernon Borthwick, T. Willes, H. E. Ormerod, J. W. 
Kaye, J. A. Bostock. H. J. Rideout, Robt. Bell, J. N. Mangles, H. M. Dunphy, W. Tyler 
Smith, M.D., E. Tyler Smith, T. L. Coward, John Brown, M.D., Robert Chambers, LL.D., 
and Dion Boucicault. 

" The room in which the meeting was held is a large drawing-room, from which all the 
furniture had been previously removed excepting the carpet, a chandelier, a table and 
sofa, and twenty-six cane-bottomed chairs. 

" At two o'clock six of the above party arrived, and the room was subjected to careful 
scrutiny. 

" It was suggested that a cabinet to be used by the Brothers Davenport, but then 
erected in an adjacent room, should be removed into the front room, and placed in a spot 
selected by ourselves. 

" This was done by our party, but in the process we displaced a portion of this piece 
of furniture, thus enabling us to examine its material and structure before we mended it. 
At three o'clock, our party was fully assembled and continued the scrutiny. We sent to 



154 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

a neighbouring music seller for six guitars and two tambourines, so that the implements 
to be' used should not be those with which the operators were familiar. At half -past 
three the brothers Davenport and Mr. Fay arrive.d They found we had altered their arrange- 
ments by changing the room which they had previously selected for their manifestations. 

"The siance then began by an examination of the dress and persons of the Davenports, 
and it was certified that no apparatus or other contrivance was concealed on or about their 
persons. They entered the cabinet, and sat facing each other. Captain^ Inglefield then 
with a new rope, provided by ourselves, tied Mr. W. Davenport hand and foot, with his 
hands behind his back, and then bound him firmly to the seat where he sat. Lord Bury 
in like manner secured Mr. Ira Davenport. The knots on these ligatures were then 
fastened with sealing wax and a seal affixed. A guitar, violin, tambourine, two bells, and 
a brass trumpet were placed on the floor of the cabinet. 

" The doors were then closed, and a sufficient light was permitted in the room to enable 
us to see what followed. 

" I shall omit any detailed account of the Babel of sounds which arose in the cabinet, 
and the violence with which the doors were repeatedly burst open and the instruments 
expelled, the hands appearing as usual at a lozenge-shaped orifice in the centre door of the 
cabinet The following incidents seem to us particularly worthy of note. 

"While Lord Bury was stooping inside the cabinet, the door being open, the two 
operators seen to be seated and bound, a detached hand was clearly observed to descend 
upon him, and he started back remarking that he had been struck. 

" Again, in the full light of the gas chandelier, and during an interval in the se'cmce, 
the doors of the cabinet being open, and while the ligatures of the brothers were being 
examined, a very white thin female hand and wrist quivered for several seconds in the 
air above. > 

" This apj)earance drew a general exclamation from all the party. Sir Charles Wyke 
now entered the cabinet and sat between the two young men, his hands being right and 
left on each, and secured to them. The doors were then closed and the Babel of sounds 
recommenced. Several hands appeared at the orifice, amongst them the hand of a child. 
After a time. Sir Charles returned amongst us and stated that whUe he held the two 
brothers, several hands touched his face, and pulled his hair ; the instruments at his feet 
crept up, played round his body, and over his head, one of them lodging eventually on 
his shoulders. During the foregoing incidents the hands which appeared were touched 
and grasped by Captain Inglefield, and he stated that to the touch they were apparently 
human hands, though they passed away from his grasp. 

" I omit mentioning other phenomena, an account of which has been rendered elsewhere. 

" The next part of the seance was performed in the dark. One of the Messrs. Daven- 
port and Mr. Fay seated themselves amongst us. . . . Two ropes were thrown at 
their feet, and in two minutes and a haK they were tied hand and foot, their hands 
behind their backs, bound tightly to their chairs, and their chairs bound to an adjacent 
table. While this process was going on, the guitar rose from the table and swung or 
floated round the room and over the heads of the party, slightly touching some. Now a 
phosphoric light shot from side to side over our heads, The hands and shoulders of 
several were simultaneously touched or struck by hands, the guitar meanwhile sailing 
round the room, now near the ceihng, now scuffling on the head and shoulders of some 
luckless wight. The bells whisked here and there, and a Kght murmuring was maintained 
on the violm. 

" The two tambourines were rolled hither and thither on the floor, now shaking 
violently, now visiting the knees and hands of our circle, all these foregoing incidents 
being simultaneous. Mr. Rideout, holding a tambourine, requested it might be plucked 
from him, when it was almost instantaneously taken. At the same time Lord Bury made 
a similar request, and a forcible attempt was made to pluck a tambourine from his grasp, 
which he resisted. 

" Mr. Fay then asked that his coat should be removed. 

" We heard a violent twitch and here occurred a most remarkable fact. A light was 
struck before the coat had quite left Mr. Fay's person, and it was seen quitting him, and 
plucked off him upwards. 

" It flew lip to the chandelier, where it hung for a moment and then fell to the ground. 
Mr. Fay was seen meanwhile bound hand and foot as before. One of our party now 
divested himself of his coat, and it was placed on the table. The hght was extinguished 
and this coat was rushed on to Mr. Fay's back with equal rapidity. 

" During the above occurrences in the dark, we placed a sheet of paper under the feet 
of the two operators, and drew with a pencil an outhne around them, to the end that if 
they moved it might be detected. 

" They of their own accord offered to have their hands filled with flour, or any similar 
substance to prove they made no use of them, but this precaution was deemed unnecessary ; 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 155 

we required them however to count from one to twelve repeatedly that their voices con- 
stantly heard might certify to us that they were in the places where they were tied. Each 
of our own party held his neighbour so firmly that no one could move without two adjacent 
neighbours being aware of it. At the termination of this seance, a general conversation 
took place on the subject of what we had witnessed. 

" Lord Bury suggested that the general opinion seemed to be that we assure the 
Brothers DavenjDort and Mr. Fay that after a very stringent trial and strict scrutiny of 
their proceedings, the gentlemen present could arrive at no other conclusion than that 
there was no trace of trickery in any form, and certainly there were neither confederates 
nor machinery, and that all those who had witnessed the results would freely state in the 
society in which they moved that so far as their investigations enabled them to form an 
opinion, the phenomena which had taken place in their presence were not the product of 
legerdemain. This suggestion was promptly acceded to by all present. 

" Before leaving this question, in which my name has accidentally become mixed up, I 
may be permitted to observe that I have no belief in what is called ' Spiritualism,' aud 
nothing I have seen inclines me to believe in it — indeed the puerility of some of the 
demonstrations would sufficiently alienate such a theory, but I do believe that we have 
not quite explored the realms of natural philosophy — that this enterprise of thought has 
of late years been confined to useful inventions, and we are content at least to think that 
the laws of nature are finite, ascertained, and limited to the scope of our knowledge. A 
very great number of worthy persons, seeing such phenomena as I have detailed, ascribe 
them to supernatural agency ; others wander round the subject in doubt, but as it 
seriously engages the feeling and earnest thought of so large a number in Europe and 
America, is it a subject which scientific men are justified in treating with the neglect of 
contempt ? 

" I am, &c., 

"Dion Boucicatjlt. 
" Regent Street, October 12, 1864." 

It may be asked with some point, why we republish accounts of 
phenomena so well known and which have long since been put into the 
shade — in the opinion of many Spiritualists — by the marvels of what they 
term " form materializations ? " On the other hand, there has been a kind 
of fashion in the assertion, both within and without the ranks of Spiritualism, 
that the Davenport Brothers are "impostors," and many assume, without 
any known grounds for the assumption, that they have been proved to be 
impostors. To all classes of objectors we would carefully commend a 
perusal of the seance reported above. Let it be remembered that it is 
written by one who only admits that his name is " accidentally " mixed up 
in the affair, and who guards that name with unnecessary caution from the 
charge of being a Spiritualist. 

All those who have witnessed the Davenports' seajices know, that their 
phenomena were performed with lightning speed ; that no singing was 
called for — "loud, louder, louder still" ;— during the dreary waiting time 
when Spirits are " materializing," and all who read the report of these press 
men, scientists, and sceptics, will observe, how often they insist upon their 
own caution in examining, and of the utter impossibiUty of their detecting 
fraud, or the personal agency of the Mediums in the phenomena. 

Now, uninteresting as the facts themselves may be, the above report 
shows a set of conditions under which human agency or contrivance was 
simply iiNiPOSSiBLE. Our aim in dwelling upon this seance is to show, that 
in the case of the Davenports, as in those so often described as occurring 
with Mr. Home, stringent tests do not hinder the manifestations, neither 
does the presence of sceptics destroy them. 

Here are conditions under which conjurers may be defied and scepticism 
baffled ; and though imposture is impossible, true Mediumship could not 
fail to come out of such trials triumphant and unimpeachable. But these 



156 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

conditions are " too degrading for sensitive Mediums to submit to," urge 
their apologists, "and you who demand it of them, are no true Spirit uaUs ts ; 
you are Spirit grabbers, Mediums' enemies, the worst foes of SpirituaHsm," 
&c., &c., &c. To this class of talkers and writers, we have no answer to 
make, neither desiring nor intending to hold intercourse with them ; but to 
the confiding victims whose heart strings are wrung, and whose pockets are 
so often robbed to sustain impostors, we would say. See what Spirits could 
do, and did do, through the mediumship of the Davenports, and have no 
hesitancy in refusing to accord faith to any professions of Spiritual agency 
that are not equally well guarded round, against possibility of human 
interference and deception. 

That the poor Davenports were often inhumanly, and even brutally 
treated, we not only admit, but are about to demonstrate ; but the tests 
appUed by the party whose record we have given, neither degraded nor 
insulted the Mediums ; on the contrary, they submitted to them cheerfully, 
and often, to the author's personal knowledge, suggested still more stringent 
tests, with which their manifestations could readily be given. 

The truth is, the Davenports have seldom been fairly dealt with. The 
people that could not explain their manifestations, have contented them- 
selves, like Mr. Boucicault, by denying that they could be "Spiritual," 
because they were too puerile, whilst multitudes of Spiritualists who will 
gaze with rapture upon the tinsel ornaments sewed on to cheap finery by 
Mediums, whilst their masked dummies are contemplated with awe, 
stretched out on sofas, will turn with disgust from the obvious and unmis- 
takeable proofs of Spirit power, furnished through the Davenports, because 
they come from " such very low Spirits ! " Had we an opportunity of 
questioning Mr. Boucicault concerning his opinion as to what becomes of 
the great mass of mankind that sit nightly to watch his dramas, perhaps 
we might be in a position to show that the taste of the majority inclines 
to puerility only, and that anything that was not puerile, would not 
represent the vanished millions that have passed through the gates of death 
to the life beyond, where it is exceedingly doubtful, if puerile Spirits become 
wise in the twinkling of an eye, or low men and women suddenly become 
exalted angels. Meantime the question is not one of quality but kind. 
Were the manifestations recorded above, made by the Davenports, if not, by 
whom and what? 

These are the real questions at issue, and those manifestations can no 
longer be called " puerile," which defy the whole realm of science to explain, 
nor those Spirits be tabooed as " too low " for pious company, which prove 
the fact of man's spiritual existence, better than all the sermons that were 
ever preached from the mere standpoint of belief without knowledge. 

Following immediately upon the seance recorded above, with the Daven- 
ports, were others of a more or less wonderful nature. 

These exhibitions were at first confined to private circles held in the 
houses of the nobility, or of scientific persons ; at length however, the 
Mediums enlarged their borders, and appeared at the Queen's Concert 
Room, Hanover Square, attracting select and distinguished audiences, by 
whom they were still esteemed as entirely free from all shadow of fraud or 
suspicion. For some time the gentlemen of the press, especially those 
who were favoured with invitations to attend the more exclusive circles, 
were fair and candid in their statements concerning what they had witnessed. 
No sooner did it appear however that the Mediums seemed in a fair way 
to remunerate themselves for time and service by successful public exhibi- 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 157 

tions, than the press suddenly became alive to the " impiety," " American 
audacity," &c., &c., of the whole affair. 

Dr. Nichols in his biography of the Davenport Brothers quotes the press 
utterances of this character at large, and to judge by their general tone, 
the Davenports had become unmistakably popular, and were very generally 
feted and patronised by the highest rank of society, whilst their success in 
" making money " by their public exhibitions, and baffling all attempts of 
the scientific or learned to " find them out," very naturally, and very Justly, 
merited the united storm of journalistic indignation from all parts of the 
country, and the united " anathema maranatha" of every pious professor of 
Spiritual doctrines, who could not prove what they professed, quite as well 
as the Davenports. So the storm raged, and so the enemies of the cause 
contributed to feed the flame by the virulence of the persecution directed 
against it. The culminating point of these proceedings however was 
reached, in a demonstration o{ popular sentimejit displayed towards the 
Davenports on the occasion of their visit to the north of England. Although 
the character of this incident is such an one as no English writer would 
care much to descant upon, we feel obliged, in the interests of truth, 
to give the narrative in all its ugly details ; still we prefer to let others tell 
the tale. We shall therefore place it before the reader in the language of 
the parties most nearly concerned, and as the following letter from the 
Brothers Davenport contains published facts which for many years have 
remained uncontradicted, we cannot do better than reprint it in their 
own words. 

The following quotation, explanatory of the letter, is written by the Rev. 
J. B. Ferguson, A.M., LL.D., a gentleman from one of the Southern States 
of America, who having become well acquained with the Davenports, and 
placing implicit faith in their honesty, and the thoroughly Spiritual nature 
of their endowments, had consented to accompany them to England, as a 
travelling companion, and was well advised of all the facts which were 
pubUshed indeed under his own supervision. 

Writing to the author Mr. Ferguson says : — " The Brothers Davenport 
have been subjected to a series of extraordinary outrages in some of the 
provincial towns of England, which show that the spirit of opposition 
manifested by a portion of the public press is likely to take more violent 
form when it falls into a lower stratum of society. The facts connected 
with the riots at Liverpool, Huddersfield, and Leeds are very clearly stated 
in the following address of the Brothers Davenport to the British public, 
which, as a portion of the history of the movement, deserves a place in 
these records : — " 

"the brothers davenport to the BRITISH PUBLIC. 

" We appeal to the free press and the enlightened and fair-dealing people of the British 
Empire for a candid consideration of the following statement, and for the even-handed 
justice usually given in this country to all persons, rich or poor, citizens or strangers. 
We ask, also, as a matter of justice, that journals which have published accounts of the 
recent riots at Liverpool, Huddersfield, and Leeds, of which we were the victims, should 
also give the facts contained in this statement. 

" We beg, furthermore, most respectfully to commend to the consideration of the Eight 
Honourable Sir George Grey and the magistracy and police authorities of the United 
Kingdom, the fact that within two weeks, in three of the most important provincial towns 
in England, without any fault of our own, transgressing no law of the realm, and offering 
no violence or injury to any person, we have been made to suJfFer in property, and have 
been menaced with extreme personal injury, with apparent danger to our lives, as will 
appear by the following statement of facts : — 



158 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

"After having given over two hundred public and private seances, or exhibitions of 
physical phenomena, such as have been described in all the leading journals of Europe and 
America, and in our published biography, at the Queen's Concert Rooms, London, and the 
mansions of the nobility and gentry of England, we visited Liverpool on the 13th of 
February, and, as is our custom, gave a private seance, to which the members of the press 
and others were invited, who reported the satisfactory character of the exhibition. 
February 14th we gave two public seances at St. George's Hall vnth like results ; a private 
seance at a gentleman's mansion and a public morning performance on Tuesday were 
alike satisfactory. 

" On Tuesday evening we were proceeding with another exhibition, when two persons, 
a Mr. Hulley and a Mr. Cummins, acting as a committee from the audience, in attempting 
to tie our wrists, caused so much pain that we were compelled to protest against the 
torture they were inflicting. We were willing to be tied with entire security, as we have 
been many hundreds of times by riggers, sailors, engineers, and other skilled persons, or to 
give any reasonable test in proof that we have no active part in the phenomena witnessed 
in our presence ; we had no fear of a ' Tomfool knot,' or of any mode of fastening that 
did not inflict unbearable torture. We declined to be bound by a committee whose unfair- 
ness and even brutality were soon manifest. Hulley and Cummins refused to retire and 
give place to another committee ; the audience was made to believe that it was the form 
of a particular knot, and not the cruelty of its appUcation, to which we objected, and we 
were compelled by an unappeasable tumult to return the money taken for tickets, and 
postpone further proceedings. 

" On the following evening printed regulations were given to every person entering the 
hall, and read from the platform, in which we distinctly claimed the right of rejecting any 
person on a committee whom we should find acting vsdth unfairness. This would be our 
right were we criminals on trial for felony. Before commencing, we invited all persons 
who were not satisfied with these regulations to retire from the hall, and receive the 
money they had paid for entrance. 

" Messrs. Hulley and Cummins, backed by a crowd of their friends, came again upon 
the platform, and, from their previous unfairness, were promptly rejected by us as a 
committee. They insisted upon tying us, and appealed to the audience to support them- 
in their demand. They refused to leave the platform when requested, took possession of 
our cabinet, and in various ways excited violent manifestations in the audience. 

" We were then assured by a gentleman of Liverpool that unless we submitted to the 
demands of these men there would be a furious riot. He promised that they should not 
be permitted to injure us, and we finally yielded to his assurances. But they had no 
sooner placed the cords upon our wrists than they inflicted a degree of pain which could 
not be endured. We protested against this violence, but in vain, and, refusing to submit 
to it longer, had the cords cut from our wrists, and left the platform, which was 
instantly invaded by the mob ; our cabinet was broken in pieces, and Hulley and 
Cummins, the heroes of this assault of some hundreds of brave Englishmen upon four 
unarmed, unoffending, and unprotected foreigners were borne from the hall upon the 
shoulders of their friends, apparently proud of their triumph. 

" Our cabinet destroyed and our business interrupted, with heavy pecuniary damage 
in Liverpool, we returned to London, had a new cabinet constructed, and on the following 
Monday returned to Halifax, where we gave our usual public and private exhibitions 
without interruption. 

" Our next engagement was at Huddersfield, February 21st. On our arrival we were 
informed that Hulley and Cummins, the heroes of the Liverpool mob, had been telegraphed 
to, and were coming with a strong deputation from that town, to break up our exhibition. 
The infuriated mob was the common talk of the town. We appealed to the police, and 
we axe happy to say that, in this instance, a sufiicient force was promptly sent to the hall 
for our protection. The crowd that assembled gave many indications of being prepared 
for violence. When our representative had stated the regulations adopted, and that we 
proposed simply the presentation of certain facts, without any theory, and asked for the 
appointment of a committee, two gentlemen, instructed, it was said, by Hulley and Cum- 
mins, came upon the platform and commenced to tie our wrists together behind us, which 
they did with needless severity. We Jbore the pain, however, until carrying the ropes 
thraugh the hole in the seat, they drew the backs of our hands down upon it with such 
violence as to threaten dislocation, placing their knees upon the seat, and in one instance 
upon the hands of one of us to give them greater purchase. This torture, deliberately, 
and to all appearance maliciously inflicted, we of course could not bear, and at our demand 
the cords were instantly severed. We exposed our livid wrists, in which every strand of 
the cord was visibly imprinted, to the audience, who, to the credit of their humanity, 
cried out ' Shame !' But the mob organized to break up our exhibition had no such 
feeling, and made a simultaneous rush for the platform, where, however, an efl&cient police 




Charles Blackburn Esq. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 159 

force saved our property from destruction and us from a violence which, under the stimu- 
lating addresses of the heroes of the Liverpool outrage, expended itself in hootings and 
howlings. 

" We had engagements for two nights at Hull, but on our arrival we were informed by 
the gentleman who had engaged us, the chairman of the hall committee, and the police 
superintendent, that there were such indications of a violent mob, that we could not be 
permitted to give our exhibition, and we received from the gentleman chiefly interested 
the following note : — 

" ' Music HaU, Jarret Street, Hull, 

'" 22nd February, 1865. 

" ' Sir, — As I believe there is reason to apprehend a disturbance at the hall this evening, 
if the seance of the Davenport Brothers takes place, I have come to the conclusion that it 
would be advisable to postpone the seance. I am sorry to do this, particularly as yourself 
and the Messrs. Davenport have arrived in Hull, and are ready to fulfil your engagement ; 
but I am driven to do so by the organized attack which I am given to tmderstand is in 
preparation. I am also urged to do so by the proprietors of the hall, who are alarmed 
lest their property should be damaged by any disturbance. 
" ' I remain, yours faithfully, 

" ' Egbert Bowser. 

"'Rev. Dr. Ferguson, Royal Station Hotel, Hull.' 

" Falling to find at Hull that protection in our legal rights which we had supposed was 
extended to every man on English ground, we went to meet our next engagement at Leeds, 
where the scenes of Liverpool and Huddersfield were re-enacted with increased violence. 
We were met by an organized mob, and were refused the protection of the police when it 
was demanded. When the ringleaders or agents of the mob, taking possession of the 
stage, had subjected us to the same violence that had been planned and practised upon us 
at Liverpool aud Huddersfield — the mob again destroying our property, smashing the 
cabinet and breaking up or purloining our musical instruments, and we were protected from 
personal violence, amid the smashing of door panels and the howling of an enraged 
populace, by the tardy arrival of a detachment of police and the brave and firm conduct 
of one of its members — our agent, contrary to all justice, was compelled to order the 
return of the admission money paid by those who had come for the very purpose of 
making the riot from which we sufiered. On the same day we had given a pubKc seance, 
attended by the members of the press and some of the most respectable citizens of Leeds, 
in which the famous ' Tom-fool knot ' was used, and in which, so far as we were able to 
judge, the phenomena exhibited gave entire satisfaction. 

" It remains but to state two or three facts which may throw further light on these 
proceedings. 

" In Liverpool, as reported in the Mercury, Mr. HuUey, when accused of acting 
unfairly to, and being an enemy of the Davenports, said, ' I avow it. I am a bitter foe 
to the Davenports.' After such an avowal, what right had he to act on a committee 
whose duty was strict impartiality ? 

" We wish to be just to the police. At Huddersfield, though they could not give us 
order, we were protected from actual violence. At Leeds such protection was withheld 
until too late to save our property. 

" At Liverpool the Mercury says : — 

" ' The appearance of Inspectors Valentine and Southwell, with a force of thirty men, 
did not stop the process of demolition. The police, indeed, did not attempt to interfere so 
long as only the 'property of the Davenports was threatened.' 

"The Leeds Mercury, reporting the violent proceedings against us at Huddersfield, 
says : — • 

" ' Mr. Walker, not considering that his hands could pull the rope tight enough, used 

his Jcnee to assist him, and the brother he was operating on again protested 

Several persons had at that time gone to the cabinet, and Davenport showed his wrist to 
some of them. It had a livid mark fringed with red, about the breadth of a finger, and in 
the holloiv of this mark there ivere the marks of the individual strands of the rope.' 

" Yet some have been found to insist on inflicting this brutal torture upon us, with 
howling mobs to back them, as if we were malefactors or wild beasts. It may be doubted 
if such an amount of violence, wrong, and outrage has been inflicted on any unoffending 
men in England since Clarkson was mobbed by the slave-traders of Liverpool, and Priestly 
by the mad bigots of Bhmingham. . . . 

" (Signed) 

" Ira Erastus Davenport. 
" William Henry Davenport. 
" William M. Fat." 



i6o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER XXI 



SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 

Another of the abnormal personages who made a deep mark upon the 
faith of European society, was Miss Nichol, better known as Mrs. Guppy, the 
wife of a gentleman of wealth and good social position, who previous to his 
union with Miss Nichol, had become remarkable in the Spiritualistic ranks 
as the author of a singular book entitled " Mary Jane." The speciality of 
this publication, which was issued in two handsome volunies, was to this 
effect. 

Previous to the decease of his first wife, Mr. Gappy's attention had been 
drawn towards a succession of extraordinary disturbances occurring in his 
own house, and which continued for many months, in the form of rappings, 
movements of furniture, direct writings, and at last, when advised by 
Spiritualistic friends to try and obtain communications with the unseen 
tormentors through the ordinary methods of the Spirit circle, the manifesta- 
tions changed to intelligent question and answer, rendered through 
rappings, table tilting, and planchette writings. Being of a somewhat 
materialistic turn of mind, and greatly interested in the study of the natural 
sciences, Mr. Guppy — whilst compelled to admit the supra-mundane 
character of the new development in his household — attributed it to a 
species of aromal force, given off unconsciously, from certain human organisms, 
and combining itself into a sort of magical impersonal personality, to which 
he gave the anomalous designation of " Mary Jane." As the said " Mary 
Jane" manifested a remarkable amount of intelligence, often transcending 
that of any member of the household, and betrayed moreover, tokens of a 
strong will of her own, Mr. Guppy conceived such an amount of respect for 
his " Ariel," that he proceeded to write her history, and completely filled 
the two volumes above alluded to, with accounts of her strange freaks, 
varied accomplishments, and demonstrations of preternatural power. 

After the death ot his first wife, Mr. Guppy being introduced to Miss 
Nichol, found in that lady's Mediumship, a very striking counterpart of his 
invisible friend Mary Jane's performances. The interest thus excited, not 
only ended in Mr. Guppy's complete conversion to Spiritualism, but also in 
the transformation of Miss Nichol into the wife of the wealthy scientist, in 
which position, as a nonprofessional Medium, Mrs. Guppy was enabled 
to exert a widespread influence both in England and many of the Conti- 
nental cities. 

As Mrs. Guppy's Mediumship is of that representative character which it 
is the aim of this work to depict, we avail ourselves of the accounts given of 
Mr. Guppy's seances, pubhshed by several authoritative witnesses. 

The first whose testimony we cite, is the late eminent jurist, Serjeant 
Cox, who, in a paper read before the Psychological Society of Great 
Britain, relates in very minute detail, how he one day called at Mrs. 
Guppy's residence at Highbury, and soHcited the favour of her company at 
a Spiritual circle, to be held that evening at his own residence. Serjeant 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. i6i 

Cox candidly states, that he desired to take Mrs. Guppy unaware of his 
invdtation, and the lady in her own simple and amiable way, immediately 
complied with the request preferred. 

It was winter time, and the ground was covered with snow. Mrs. Guppy 
having arranged her dress, entered the hired cab which Serjeant Cox had 
brought, and drove with him some four miles to his residence. From the 
time of her arrival at his house, till the period of the seance, about five hours 
later, Serjeant Cox or the ladies of his family never for one moment lost 
sight of Mrs. Guppy, and yet within three minutes of the time that the circle 
had assembled, in a room which had been thoroughly searched, the one 
door locked, and the key deposited in Serjeant Cox's pocket, when the light 
was extinguished, heavy thuds were heard on the table, the lights were called 
for by signal, and the table w^as found to be covered with heaps of pure 
white snow. When this unwelcome freight of matter had been removed, 
the party re-formed, and the gas extinguished, more deposits were heard 
falling, fresh signals were made for lights, and the table was found literally 
piled up with lovely hothouse flowers, arranged with exquisite taste mto 
divers fanciful groups. 

The author on one occasion, in a locked room, too thoroughly searched 
to admit of the concealment of a single article however small, was pre- 
sented, at her own request, with a live pigeon, which fluttered down upon 
her lap, almost as soon as asked for. The bird being released, and flowers 
asked for, when the signal was given for lights, an immense pyramid of 
flowers was found tastefully built up around a pot of tulips. The lights — 
at the request of the Spirits— being again put out, the flowers, including 
immense branches of ferns, were so completely hidden or removed from the 
room, that though the one door was locked, and the key in the pocket of 
one of the company, the strictest search failed to reveal a single leaf. All 
that was left was the pot of tulips, on which was found a paper with very 
small writing, presenting the tulips as a gift to the author, " from the 
Spirits." 

One of the most curious narratives in connection with this lady's 
Mediumship, is given in the following account, which was published as the 
statement of a seance, in which a gentleman present was suddenly, 
mysteriously, and unconsciously transferred from the locked circle room 
of Mr. Guppy's house, to the locked and closed premises of a friend of 
his, two miles distant. Quite twenty reliable witnesses at the two ends 
of the line, signed their names to an attestation, one party declaring the 
gentleman was in their midst at nine o'clock p.m. in a locked room, the 
key of the only door being in the pocket of one of the company, and the 
other party witnessing that the same gentleman suddenly made his appear- 
ance, at nine o'clock also, in a yard, locked, shut up, and enclosed on every 
side against the possibility of entrance, except by the locked and barred 
gate \ also, that on that night, zvhen the rain was pouring, and the streets 
were covered with mud, this transfer of a human being, through two miles 
of space, was made, without leaving one trace of dampness or mud upon 
his clothing. 

The names of the twenty witnesses are those of well-known and respecta- 
ble persons, but as the gentleman himself would not allow his name to be 
published in connection with the circumstance, we simply allude to it, with- 
out ranging it in the category of the narratives given- in this volume ; indeed 
we only reprint thus much of the details because the account which was 
sent to several London papers for publication, was prefaced by a concise 



1 62 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

summary of a similar event occurring in the experience of Mrs. Guppy, of 
which the most exaggerated accounts have been put in circulation. 

The following brief statement has been pronounced to be so reHable and 
accurate by all parties concerned, that we deem it in order to republish it. 
It must be understood, that it was printed in connection with the narrative 
ofthe gentleman before alluded to, in the New York Sun, from which we 
give the following extract : — 

" Before entering upon particulars, it is desirable to advert to a somewhat similar 
circumstauce that took place on June 3rd, 1871, upon which occasion Mrs. Guppy, the 
famous medium, was conveyed instantaneously from her breakfast parlour at Highbury 
(where she was engaged making up her housekeeping accounts) to a locked room at 61, 
Lamb's Conduit Street, where she was suddenly found in a state of trance or unconscious- 
ness, upon a table around which ten persons were sitting for the investigation of alleged 
spiritual phenomena, in the presence of Messrs. Heme and Williams, the widely known 
professional mediums. A minute and circumstantial report of this event appeared in the 
current spiritual journals, as well as in several newspapers, attesting, not only her unex- 
pected arrival, but also the fact, amongst many others, that she held in her hand her 
housekeeping book and pen with the ink still liquid— such report being signed by all 
present at the seance in question — viz., N. Hagger, 46, Moorgate Street ; Caroline Edmiston, 
Beckenham ; C. E. Edwards, Kilburn Square, Kilburn ; Henry Morris, Mount Trafford, 
Eccles, near Manchester ; Elizabeth Guppy, 1, Morland Villas, Highbury Hill Park, N. ; 
Ernest Edwards, Kilburn Square, Kilburn ; Henry CUfford Smith, 38, Ennis Road, Stroud 
Green ; H. B. Husk, 26, Sandwich Street, W.C. ; Charles E. Williams, 61, Lamb's Conduit 
Street ; W.C. ; F. Heme, 61, Lamb's Conduit Street, W.C. ; W. H. Harrison, Wilmm 
Villa, Chaucer Road, S.E. Three members of this party (as a deputation), to fully test 
the circumstance and to prevent collusion, escorted Mrs. Guppy home, and took the 
testimony of Mr. Guppy and Miss Neyland to the fact of Mrs. Guppy's presence in her 
home at Highbury, immediately preceding her appearance at Lamb's Conduit Street." 

In this case it must be borne in mind that Mr. Guppy — a gentleman of 
unquestionable probity — his housekeeper, and Mrs. 'Guppy's maid, testified 
to her presence in her house at Highbury about half-past eight in the 
evening, and at or about the same time, ten persons sitting in a third floor 
room, locked and bolted, in Lamb's Conduit Street, a distance of at least 
four miles, holding a dark circle, with the window closed, the one door 
locked, and the key in the pocket of one of the sitters, hearing a sudden 
noise on the table — struck a light, and found Mrs. Guppy in a state of 
partial consciousness, arrayed in a loose morning gown, housekeeping book 
in hand, sitting in their midst, on the table. 

Let it be noted also, that the whole of the witnesses were credible, 
respectable persons, and though their testimony was received with the fool's 
argument of ridicule, and bald denial, it was o'f a reliable character, and 
from persons whose witness thus given, would have been received in any 
court of judicature as undeniable. 

The next and last account we can give of Mrs. Guppy's Mediumship is 
one published by Miss Houghton in her "Record of Spirit Seances," and 
confirms numbers of other and similar statements made by Professors 
Wallace, Varley, Serjeant Cox, the late King Victor Emanuel of Italy, 
General Garibaldi, Prince George of Solms, Mr. R. D. Owen, and 
numerous other notables for whom Mrs. Guppy often sat, and who have 
freely testified to manifestations occurring in their presence of exactly the 
same character as the following extract from Miss Houghton's book : — 

" In October, 1868, a seance was held, at which eighteen persons were present. Miss 
Nichol being the chief medium. Each of the sitters vrished for fruit, the wish being in 
every instance granted. The following were brought and dropped on the table around 
which the company sat : A banana, two oranges, a bunch of white grapes, a bunch of black 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 163 

grapes, a cluster of filberts, three walnuts, a dozen damsons, a slice of candied pine apple, 
three figs, two apples, some almonds, dates, pears, a pomegranate, two greengages, a pUe 
of currants, a lemon, a bunch of raisins, which, as well as the figs and dates, were quite 
plump, as if they had never been packed, but brought direct from the drying ground. 
While the wishing was in progress a lady said, ' Why does not some one wish for 
vegetables, such as a potato or an onion ? ' and even while she was speaking a potato 
and an onion fell into her lap." 

In recalling the phenomenal personages who between the years i860 and 
1880 have contributed most liberally to the diffusion of Spiritual light and 
knowledge, it would be ungenerous to omit a notice of Mr. David Duguid, 
of Glasgow, a young man occupying the humble position of an industrious 
mechanic, and one whose limited means of education entirely precluded the 
expectation of an exhibition of his powers in the direction of the fine arts. 
The following account however, furnished to the London Spiritual Magazine 
by Mr. Benjamin Coleman, one of the most persevering as well as dis- 
interested observers of Spiritual phenomena, will give a fair illustration of 
the modes by which Spirit influence can evolve latent faculties and cultivate 
unknown germs of talent, even from the most unpromising sources. 

In the Spiritual Magazine of June, 1866, Mr. Coleman writes : — 

" There are several other mediums in Glasgow, one among them, Mr. David Duguid, 
a working cabinet-maker, is likely to be distinguished as a drawing medium; One very 
remarkable and interesting fact connected with this young man it is my purpose to 
relate, which I do upon the authority of Mr. H. Nisbet and Mr. James Nicholson, vrith 
whom I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted whilst in Glasgow. 

" After David had been recognised as a medium for the ordinary manifestations, he 
developed as a drawing medium, but made little progress at first without the aid of a 
young lady who formed one of the circle. When she placed her hand on the back of his, 
it would move with great facility, and at this stage his left hand only was used. 

" At the third sitting David became entranced vdth his eyes shut before commencing 
to draw. At each succeeding seance his powers increased as the trance condition became 
more intense, and his eyes more firmly closed. 

." The objects usually drawn at first were human heads and flowers ; but, when a 
certain proficiency was obtained, flowers, fruits, and a rough landscape were done in 
colours, the pencils and brushes being now taken in his right hand. 

"At the fifth sitting, a remarkable painting in water-colours was commenced and 
finished, representing the entrance to an arcade, the archway being surmounted by the 
figure of Justice, standing upon a globe, around which a serpent is coiled, with the 
figures on either side of Hope and Charity. These figures are very masterly in concep- 
tion. The interior of the arcade is panelled with niches, in which figures and vases of 
flowers are placed. The floor is carpeted, and at the extreme end there is a rotunda, in 
the centre of which a cross is placed. The picture is a transparency, and, when held up 
to the light the cross dissolves into a throne, upon which a figure is seated with a halo of 
glory surrounding the head, supported by twelve figures, six on each side. Those present 
were anxious to hno^o the name of the artist, hut he declined fw the present to satisfy them, 
giving as a reason that he would ultimately give them the means of establishing his identity. 
Subsequently, they were told that he was an artist of celebrity, who had lived in the 
seventeenth century ; that he was born in 1635, and died in 1681 ; and that he was con- 
temporary with Steen, the celebrated Dutch painter ; that he had not been accustomed 
to paint figures, but that his delight had been to represent Nature, and that he would 
attempt at their next sitting a sketch of one of his paintings — his masterpiece. 

" Accordingly, on the evening of the 18th of April the promised sketch was pencilled 
out, and on the 21st it was finished in water-colours, in the short period of four hours, 
and in the left hand corner the initials "J. R" were placed. This painting is considered 
a very able production. 

" Up to this time, none of the party had the least idea of the name of the spirit-artist, 
and their curiosity was unsatisfied until Mr. Logan brought an artist friend to see the 
picture, who was much struck with it, and said he was sure he had seen the painting 
somewhere, though he could not at the moment name the painter. 

" A day or two after, Mr. Logan's friend informed him that he had made the desired 
discovery, and showed Mr. Logan a volume of Cassell's Art Treasures' Exhibition, where, 



1 64 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

at page 301, there is an engraving, nearly /ac simile of the spirit drawing, from a painting 
of ' The Waterfalls,' by Jacob Ruysdael, acknowledged to be his chef d'ceuvre. 

" This circumstance was communicated to the persons forming the circle ; but they 
determined to keep the medium in ignorance of the fact, being satisfied that in his 
normal condition he knew nothing of it. 

" At the next sitting, on the 28th April, David became deeply entranced, and after 
the usual short conversation between him and the spirit-ai-tist, the latter spoke through 
the medium, and informed the company that he was aware of the discovery they had 
made 'that his name was Ruysdael.' They then placed before the medium Cassell's 
volume, which also contains a portrait of the painter, and invited the spirit's inspection 
of it. The spirit remarked that the engraving of the picture was a good coiDy, and the 
likeness tolerable when at the age of thirty. They then pointed the spirit's attention to 
the absence of figures in the new drawing which were in the original. The spirit 
replied, ' That the figures in his paintings were not by himself, but were put in by an 
artist friend ! ' which, upon reference to a biography of Ruysdael, they found to be 
correct. 

" It remains to be stated that Mr. David Duguid, the medium, has no knowledge 
whatever of drawing, and that he is, as I have already said, a plain working man ; that 
the drawing was executed in the presence of several persons, including those I have 
named, in four hours, whilst the medium's eyes were fast closed ; and, further to satisfy 
the scepticism of some of those present, there was a bandage put over them during part 
of the time. The medium declares that he had no knowledge of the existence of 
Ruysdael' s picture, nor that such an artist had ever lived, and there is no reason to 
doubt his asseverations." 

For the satisfaction of those who deem that the inipelUng motive with 
humanity in general, and Spirit Mediums in particular, is " the greed of 
gain," and the desire " to make capital " out of the world's interest in 
Spiritual phenomena, we must here state, that David Duguid, although 
pursuing steadily the cultivation of his mediumship for many years — up to 
the time indeed of this present writing — has never done so professionally, 
but still lives by his mechanical labours, following out his simple unosten- 
tatious career, producing in the brief leisure hours he can afford to give to 
his mediumship, hundreds of paintings, drawings, and sketches, some of 
rare merit and others more indifferently executed, but all without the slightest 
attempt to convert his extraordinary gift to the same means of compensa- 
tion, which would be freely accorded to any other form of artistic production. 

We shall conclude this brief notice of our excellent and self-sacrificing 
Medium's career, with the following short excerpt, the nature of which speaks 
for itself. It is taken from T/te North British Daily Mail (Glasgow) of 
March, 1870, and reads thus : — 

" So much has been said and done lately regarding 'the exposure of Spiritualism,' that a 
few notes may be of interest as to what the writer witnessed the other night at a private 
stance given by Mr. David Duguid. This gentleman was comparatively unknown untU 
publicly challenged by Mr. Bishop during his recent 'exposure of Spiritualism.' Mr. 
Duguid has never courted publicity, but at the same time he has always been very willing 
to give every information regarding his manifestations. The seance took place in his 
parlour, and was attended by ten gentlemen, five of whom were rank heretics regarding 
all Spii'itualistic phenomena. Immediately on Mr. Duguid taking his seat at a small 
table he went into a trance condition, his eyes closing and a smile playing on his counte- 
nance. A piece of cardboard, about six inches by nine inches, which had been previously 
examined by the company, was then handed to him. After breathing on it Mr. Duguid 
made a rough pencil sketch, and then picking up his palette and brushes commenced to 
paint a landscape with his eyes firmly sealed. To make assurance doubly sure, a hand- 
kerchief was firmly bound across his eyes, but he did not appear to be the least incon- 
venienced by this arrangement, and painted away quite briskly, first rubbing in the sky, 
and then the faint outline of the distant mountains ; and finally boldly dashing in the 
foreground with a few vigorous strokes. At the suggestion of a gentleman present the 
light was put out, but this made no difference, the action of the brushes being quite 
audible in the darkness. After the expiry of half an hour the sketch was complete, and 
was a most remarkable picture to be produced under such peculiar conditions. What in 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 165 

Spiritualistic circles is called a ' direct drawing ' was then attempted. A common card, 
coated with iodine, was placed on the table before Mr. Duguid, whose hands and feet 
were firmly secured with silk handkerchiefs. The gas was turned oif, and the company, 
joining hands, sang the 100th Psalm. After the lapse of about five minutes a rap was 
heard on the table, and on the gas being lit Mr. Duguid was found sitting as firmly bound 
as before, and on turning up the card on the table, a nice little miniature landscape was 
observed, the colours being quite wet and newly painted. Without attempting to give 
an opinion or explain how such manifestations could be accomplished, we simply narrate 
the circumstances of the seance as they occurred." 

Besides the remarkably-endowed Mediums above mentioned, a large 
number of ladies and gentlemen moving in various distinguished circles of 
Great Britain have manifested extraordinary spiritual gifts and exercised 
them freely, in a non-professional way, for the beneiit of their friends and 
acquaintances. Medium power indeed has been exhibited in every class of 
society throughout the United Kingdom, and for some years it would have 
been impossible to visit any town or hamlet, without discovering way-marks 
of Spiritual power in the form of healings, trance speaking. Spirit drawing, 
writing, seership, or physical force manifestations. 

Besides the large number of private Mediums, of whose gifts we are not 
privileged to speak, except in these general terms, there are a great many 
excellent and disinterested labourers in the Spiritual vineyard, who give 
their services to the public in the capacity of clairvoyants, and trance 
speakers. Very few of these persons will receive compensation for their 
services, and many of them — especially in the North of England — voluntarily 
travel from place to place each Sabbath day, incurring a vast amount of 
fatigue and freely bestowing time and service, for the purpose of dis- 
seminating the glad tidings of Spiritualism, to all who will come to hear 
them. Throughout the large and thickly-populated districts of Yorkshire, 
Lancashire, Durham, and Northumberland, scores of these self-sacrificing 
missionaries may be found. Many of them are miners, pit men, weavers 
and factory hands, who, notwithstanding the unceasing toils of the week, 
cheerfully devote themselves to the duties of the Spiritual rostrum on the 
Sunday; and though they are simply "children of the people," and wholly 
untrained to such work, their rude natural eloquence, heightened by the 
afflatus of the spirit intelligences that speak through their lips, produces 
a much deeper influence upon audiences of their own class, than the 
metaphysical arguments of more polished speakers could do. The very 
fact too, that wholly uneducated men and women can give correct diagnoses 
of disease, make cures that the medical faculty could never succeed in, and 
pour forth moving strains of exalted eloquence, far in advance of their 
normal capacity, clearly proves the control of some outside power, and 
brings conviction to many minds, that could not be reached by all the 
subtle logic of well-trained orators. 

We are not pleading in this category either for the expediency of non- 
professional Mediumship, or advising the exercise of inspirational powers 
upon the public rostrum, which are liable to be marred in transmission 
through ilhterate channels, but in reporting the status of SpirituaUsm as it 
really exists, we should omit one of the most important factors in Spiritual 
progress amongst the rank and file of society, if we failed to render justice 
to the self-devoted labourers who throughout England, but especially in the 
North, have for years rendered invaluable services as healers and speakers, 
with few to thank, and none to compensate them, save the consciousness of 
the good they have performed, and the approbation of the angels whose 
servants they are. If any readers are curious to learn who these self- 



1 66 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

sacrificing individuals are, let them turn to the plan of speakers for the 
Yorkshire districts as advertised in the Medium and Daybreak, the 
reports from the Lancashire, Durham, and Northumberland towns and 
mining districts, together with a few reports from the South and West, and 
they will there find a list of humble names recorded, whose place will 
surely be found, in the day when the Master of Life " numbers up his 
jewels." 

Before quitting the subject of non-professional Mediumship in England, 
we must call attention to the inestimable services rendered in higher and 
more influential grades of society than those above named — in fact, amongst 
the most distinguished and aristocratic circles of the metropolis— by Mrs. 
Everitt, a lady of independent position now residing at Hendon, formerly 
of Islington, London. Mrs. Everitt's Mediumship has been distinguished 
by the variety and intellectual character, no less than the force of the 
manifestations given in her presence. Besides loud rappings and the 
movement of heavy bodies which have been brought through closed doors 
and carried hither and thither in broad light, often without Jmman contact, 
Mrs. Everitt is a remarkable Medium for the production of the direct Spirit 
voice, and writings executed in the most minute form of caligraphy, in an 
almost incredibly short period of time. The illustration (given on another 
page) of these spirit writings, purported to come from Dr. Burns, a clergy- 
man of London, and one eminent alike for his noble character, his 
eloquence as a preacher, and the fearless candour with which he avowed 
his belief in Spirit communion. Dr. Burns granted the use of his Church 
to Dr. Newton for the purpose of practising therein his marvellous gift of 
healing. He attended several of Mrs. Everitt's circles ; publicly expressed 
his entire belief in their supra-mundane character, a.nd after passing into 
spirit life, returned to those circles, to add his testimony as a spirit, to that 
which he had borne on earth as a mortal. The writing, of which a facsimile 
is given, was produced in nine seconds upon a piece of marked paper — in 
the presence of some ten witnesses — honoured guests of Mr. and Mrs. Everitt. 

Mr. Everitt has in his possession hundreds of similar writings — most of 
them produced under the most crucial test conditions. The writing here 
exemplified was produced by the Spirit of one well known to the parties 
present, and is of a thoroughly characteristic style. 

Sometimes the house in which the seances were in session has been 
shaken as in an earthquake. On other occasions the circle room has been 
filled with delicious perfumes or strong currents of air. 

The intelligence rendered by the direct writings, no less than the Spirit 
voices conversing with the company, is for the most part of a religious or 
moral character. The writings have not unfrequently been given in Greek, 
Latin, and Oriental languages, all of which are totally unknown to Mrs. 
Everitt. As an example of the preternatural mode in which these writings 
are produced, the following incident may be narrated. At a seance held in 
a semi-darkened drawing-room, with closed doors, and a company of some 
twenty persons assembled, a very large and splendidly illustrated book 
with paper covers, suddenly fluttered down from the ceiling and dropped 
in view of all present on the table in their midst. 

The book had been kept for many previous months in a locked drawer, 
in a room above that wherein it now appeared, and no human being at that 
time, could have had access to the place from which it was taken. 

This book was passed round amongst the company, of whom the author 
was one, and the illustrations being very fine, it was examined with so much 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 167 

attention by all parties present, that not a leaf coald have escaped observa- 
tion. Whilst the visitors were commenting on the astonishing though by no 
means unprecedented manner in which this manifestation had occurred, 
the Spirits spelled out by rappings the request that the lights should be 
put out. This was prompdy done^ but in less than twenty seconds another 
well-known signal was given for the restoration of the lights. Deeming 
that Some preliminary had been forgotten which the Spirits wished attended 
to, the chandelier was hurriedly relighted, when it was found that the 
margins of two leaves, at the place where the book was lying open, were 
covered with very fine pencilled writing. On further examination, it 
appeared that over twenty of the leaves were similarly marked, thus making 
in all, nearly three hundred words inscribed upon paper, that, sixteen seconds 
previously, had been proved to be entirely blank. 

It must be added, that although Mr. and Mrs. Everitt's position in the 
social scale placed them^ on an equality with all their guests, this excellent 
lady has ever cheerfully submitted to the most exigeant demand for tests, 
and furnished opportunities for thorough and searching investigation as 
gracefully, as if she had been a professional medium, or had not been in 
her own estimable character beyond all possibility of doubt or suspicion. 
For many years she devoted her varied gifts to the service of her 
friends, and such guests as could obtain an introduction to her delightful 
seances. Here the noble, the scientific, and the learned, no less than the 
plain, untitled citizen, were freely welcomed, and ever hospitably enter- 
tained by the master and mistress of the mansion, and the author is in a 
position to affirm, that thousands of persons in this generation, owe their 
assurances of immortality, and their happiest hours of pure communion 
with blessed ascended ones, to the inimitable gifts of Mrs. Everitt, and the 
genial hospitality of her noble husband. 

Mrs. Everitt was also a seeress, and could readily receive impressions by 
mental telegraphy, from her friends. 

The author has often exchanged messages with this lady, when separated 
by miles of distance, such messages being invariably found subsequently to 
be correct. In Mr. Everitt, the cause of Spirituafism has found an equally 
indefatigable and able champion, Mr. Everitt's eloquent expositions of 
Spiritualism upon every available opportunity having attracted large 
audiences, and respectful consideration, whenever presented. 

If we speak somewhat in the past tense of Mr. and Mrs. Everitt, it is not 
because their devotion to the cause of Spiritualism has waned, or the lady's 
Spiritual gifts have failed, but in the retirement of the family from the busy 
metropolis to the seclusion of a suburban residence, the opportunides for 
the exercise of Mediumship to all comers, have necessarily become very 
infrequent, and it is now only in the family circle and its immediate visitors, 
that Mrs. Everitt's charming phases of mediumship can be witnessed. 

We shall now direct the reader's attention to another wonderful display 
of Sibylline power manifested in the family of Mr. Bertolacci, a gentleman 
too well known and esteemed by his wide circle of friends, to incur the 
slightest shadow of suspicion, either in respect to the disinterestedness of 
his motives, or the truth of his statements. As Mr. Bertolacci was very 
free in placing the Mediumistic power of his family at the service of 
numerous credible witnesses, his testimony is susceptible of full verification 
in every particular. 

After eleven years of astounding and continuous demonstrations of Spirit 
power, Mr. Bertolacci • — at the instance of his friends and numerous 



1 68 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

interested witnesses, — consented to embody his experiences in a small 
volume, which — in deference to his devoted adherence to the tenets of the 
Christian religion, or, it may be assumed, as a line of demarcation between 
himself and less orthodox believers in Spirit communion — he entitled as 
follows : — Christian Spiritualism : Wherein is sheivn the Extension of the 
Human Faculties by the Application of Modern Spiritual Phenomena, 
according to the Doctrine of Christ. By William Robert Bertolacci. — 
Pubhshed by Emily Faithfull. 

The following extracts are taken from a fine analytical review of Mr. 
Bertolacci's work by Mr. Thomas Shorter, the learned author of " The Two 
Worlds," editor of the London Spiritual Magazine, &c,, &c. Mr. Shorter 
introduces his subject in these words : — 

" The experiences of M. Bertolacci extend over a period of eleven years, and this little 
volume must be regarded as only a synopsis or sample rather than a complete and elaborate 
history of them. Previously thereto, M. Bertolacci was, he informs us, a 'complete dis- 
believer in all miracles,' and he adopted the popular talk of 'laws of nature," 'priest- 
craft,' and 'weak-minded credulity,' as aU-sufficient to explain them. Under the 
influence of these derided manifestations this unhappy attribute and tone of mind has 
become changed to one of earnest and devout Christian assurance, as this book sufficiently 
evinces. But to come to the facts. M. Bertolacci says : — 

" ' "We have produced most of the manifestations witnessed in other circles, such as 
table-turnings, and tiltings, raps and many sorts of sounds in different parts of the house. 
Tables and other objects have been raised from the ground without contact ; and have, 
when in the air, resisted the efforts of a strong man to force them down again. Tables 
have been made to adhere so fixedly to the ground as to resist every endeavour to raise 
them ; and in more than one instance, when five or six persons have combined their whole 
strength, the wooden top, fixed on with strong screws, has been wrenched completely off, 
while the light framework and legs have remained adhering to the ground ; whereas these, 
immediately after, have risen quietly up into the air without being touched on being told 
to do so. Clocks have passed the hour without striking it on being told not to do so. . 

'"In one circumstance, we obtained direct writing by placing a clean sheet of paper in 
a drawer overnight, the drawer and room being locked and secured, so that no one could 
obtain access to them. The next morning, was found written on the paper, as had been 
foretold through the planchette, " Christ soil avec vous," " Christ be with you.' "' 

" The raps on the table being too slow a process for communicating information, the 
use of the planchette had been indicated. 

"By means of the planchette the author, has thus obtained some 1,200 or 1,400 
pages of manuscript in English and French, *^ncluding a work of 500 or 600 pages, 
explanatory of phenomena of which these writings form a part. 

" The seances have not been confined toi«j|hysical manifestations, such as have been 
already named, nor has the attendance at' them been limited to M. Bertolacci and his 
family ; intimate friends were at first ad^nitted, and these introduced others, and the- 
attendance so increased that after a short time it became requisite to appoint reception 
days, and on these occasions to hold both morning and evening meetings. These witnesses 
are, therefore, additional evidence to the facts certified by M. Bertolacci. 

" The proceedings of the stances were regulated by the planchette writing ; and we 
learn that — 

" ' If among those present any one was ailing, or in a state of ill-health, they were 
generally singled out, and desired to come to the table. When there, they would often be 
told what their sufferings were, how long they had been ill, &c., although no previous 
mention had been made of the subject, and while under the surprise which these unex- 
pected communications generally created, they would be told that if they had faith in 
Christ they should be cured, which was, in several instances, realized immediately. 

" ' At other times, the seance would begin by first one person and then another being 
selected among the company, and each in their turn being conversed with by means of the 
planchette-writing. Then, to the astonishment of many present, persons appearing 
amongst us for the first time would be called by their Christian names, and others by 
their famihar nicknames, telling them their peculiarities of disposition, their favourite 
pursuits, and their thoughts at the very moment. It has constantly occurred that at the 
very time this was going on, the table on which the planchette was writing would be seen 
to rise into the air, all its four legs being a foot or more from the ground.' . . , 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 169 

" Contagious maladies, and even the action of poison, have been arrested, and organic 
disease successfully treated. The following is an instance : — 

" ' At one of our receptions, a Madame G a, of Pontoise, was, by appointment, 

introduced by mutual friends. The assembly was very numerous — some twenty persons 

being present. Madame G a had, for eleven months previous, lost the use of her legs 

from a paralysis which extended from her waist downwards, resulting from a premature 
confinement. It was with difficulty she could move about on crutches upon very even 
ground, and she had to be carried from the carriage which had conveyed her from the 
railway station to our reception room on the first floor, in the arms of her friends. 

'"The siance was a very animated one. Many wonderful things occurred; the 
planchette had written at once under the hands of persons who had never witnessed 

anything of the sort before, &c., &c. Madame G a was then selected, and during 

fifteen or twenty minutes, she had it all to herself, much in the same way as it occurred 

with Mrs. K d previously to her being cured. Many tears were shed by Madame G a, 

who was deeply affected by the words of kind and gentle sympathy and of encouraging hope 
addressed to her by the sublimely inspired phrases written under the planchette. While 
this was going on, the rest of the company were conversing quietly among themselves in 
undertones. Then, all present being desired to give their whole attention, we were exhorted 
to join our hearts in an act of inward and fervent communion, and implore God to show 
His mercy upon our suffering sister. During the total silence which ensued, a short and 
impressive prayer was rapidly written under the planchette, which was read aloud, then 

the Spirit through the planchette, addressing Madame G a, wrote, " Do you believe in 

Christ's invariable goodness and power ? " to which she answered, " Yes, truly I do." 
While she was answering, the planchette was writing, " Then stand upright ! " As though 
recollecting her weakness, for a moment she seemed to look round for assistance, and at 
the same instant the words, "Alone in Jesus Christ's name!" were written with such 
rapidity, that they seemed as if they had been struck off upon the paper ; and they had 

not time to be read, when Madame G a sprang on her feet, and she was no longer a 

paralytic. She was then told to walk up and down the room, which feat she accomplished 
with unhesitating firmness and perfect ease, and was after that sent downstairs to walk, 
accompanied, but unassisted, by my wife, for five minutes round the garden, where she 
was all the time in full view of the company assembled on the balcony and clustered round 
the windows ; and having come up again, she expressed her gratitude towards God for the 
mercy she had received, amidst the congratulations of all parties, who by that time had 
begun to be sufficiently recovered from their first surprise to reflect upon and appreciate 
the miracle which had been performed. We resumed our places. A thanksgiving to God 

was written through the planchette, and an hour afterwards, Madame G a's carriage 

having been previously discarded, she returned vfith the rest of the company, going on 
foot to the railway station, about a mile from our house, and was perfectly cured of her 
paralysis.'* 

" Surgical cases were treated in like manner and with Uke results. M. Bertolacci 
says : — 

" ' When any of my girls cut themselves or met with any other accident, such as 
bruises, sprains, &c., not only is all pain immediately taken away, but indeed the healing 
is almost as rapid. One day, one of them, in cutting a loaf of bread, gave herself a deep 
gash across the left hand, an inch long. The blood was flowing very copiously and had 
quite wetted a towel, which she had wrapped round it, through and through many folds, 
by the time she came to me, though she lost no time, however, in so doing. The towel 
was taken off, and I held the lips of the wound together, while those present joined us, 
during eight or ten seconds, in communion, the name of Jesus Christ having been 
invoked. The blood ceased to flow, and the wound was closed. Not more than four 
hours afterwards, some friends having come to pass the evening with us, she played 
several long pieces on the pianoforte, and had totally forgotten that she had cut herself 
in the day. Nevertheless, the wound was sufficiently severe to leave a scar still very 
plainly to be seen, although it is now somewhere about seven years since the accident 
occurred. On another occasion since that, one of her sisters cut the top of her thumb 
from one side to the other, down to the very bone, and was cured in the same manner, as 
completely and as instantaneously. 

" ' I have mentioned these two cases in particular to give my reader a notion of the 
efficacy of the cures ; but, indeed, it is almost of daily occurrence with us, either for one 
thing or the other— a cut, a bruise, and the blistering of an arm from the effects of a 
poisonous plant, having, the very day on which I \\n:ite this narration, been cured, each in 
the space of eight seconds. A few days back, it was a hand and wrist which had been 

* Compare this case with the analagous and equally remarkable one of Miss Fancourt, as given 
in Brevier's "Two "Worlds," pp. 230-235. 



I70 NINETEENTH CENTURY ^MIRACLES. 

pretty smartly scalded with boiling water. Toothaches and caries are as effectually 
stopped, even to the destroying of the nerve, in order to obviate any recurrence of the 
pain from extraneous causes. On one occasion, when the request was ma^de that the 
nerve should be destroyed, the most complete insensibility immediately succeeded ; but 
we were told, that as the tooth was only slightly attacked, if it were stopped within a 
few days, in order to keep the air and moisture from it, it would be preserved ; but that, 
if that were not done, in ten days it would begin to fall to pieces. It was not done, and 
on the tenth day, a large portion of the tooth fell off, and, in a very few days more, 
nothing but the bare root was left, which, however, was very easily extracted without 
occasioning the least pain.' 

" There can be no mistake about cases like these, the facts are recent, and are pub- 
lished to the world ; the witnesses are living, and well known as persons of credit and 
integrity. The faculty and the press may ignore or deny the facts ; from their ante- 
cedents it may be expected that they will do so ; but this, though it should affect their 
own credit, will not affect the facts, which are neither made nor destroyed by the 
opinions which may be formed about them. 

"We omit, from want of space, the magnetic and clairvoyant phenomena related, but 
the spiritual education of his family, as M. Bertolacci relates it, is something so unique 
that notwithstanding our already copious extracts we quote it in extenso. After a chap- 
ter on ' Initiation,' he proceeds : — 

" ' With this foundation to work upon, and confiding in the revelations and spiritual 
guidance by which we had already attained the degree of spiritual strength shewn in the 
preceding narration, I boldly withdrew my two younger daughters from the school they 
daily attended ; and in spite of the opposition and common-place arguments of other 
parties, began their new mode of education in the manner indicated by our invisible 
spiritual conductor, which was pursued much in the following order : — 

" ' Lessons were learnt by heart by reading to my students in theie magnetic 
SLEEP, ordering them to retain in their memory when they awoke, all they had heard. 
Lessons were next learnt by heart by the pupils reading, themselves, once over, in 
their magnetic sleep, one or more pages of a book. When this began to become 
familiar, and the organs of memory showed that they were in a fit state of rapid obedi- 
ence, the action of the organs of outward perception upon the memory was submitted to 
the strong developing power of the soul's direct influence, and lessons were learnt by 
THE simple inspection OF (or staring at) the open page op a book, — the students 
being in their normal waking state. In the beginning, the inspection, or staring, was 
made to last a certain number of seconds, and that number being gradually reduced, 
after a short space of time, the duration of a single second or a mere glimpse at the page 
was sufficient for the pupils to retain in their memory the whole contents of it. 

" ' In this manner and in the following, the daily lessons of my children, equal at times 
to a week's corresponding school tasks, were learnt in the space of a few seconds ; lessons 
that take hours to interrogate them upon, with any degree of detail. Lessons are also 

LEARNT by A SIMPLE ACT OF PIOUS CONCENTRATION FROM BOOKS CLOSED OR TOTALLY OUT 

OF SIGHT. In this case, we have usually named the page where the beginning of the 
lesson is to be found, for we have, as yet, had recourse to the process less as a matter of 
immediate utility than as a jDractice of the powers of distant clairvoyance. It will be 
easily conceived that by a slight extension of this faculty, or rather by the special direc- 
tion being given to it, it may be applied to obtain references from, and even the perfect 
knowledge of, works one does not oneself possess, but which are known to exist in 
certain libraries and other places, rendered either by their distance, our own want of 
time or otherwise, inaccessible to us, 

" ' DICTATION. 

" ' Dictations were given by the teacher reading from a book in the ordinary 
MANNER ; but WITHOUT NAMING THE STOPS OR ANY OF THE OTHER SIGNS, these being seen by 
the students through their pre-acquired clairvoyant capacities, the phrases becoming 
visible to them as soon as they are dictated. The mental dictations. — In this case the 
pupils are made acquainted — by the hnoioledge of their " inner man" and the perfected 
obedience of the organs of their " outer man," with the contents of the page held open in a 
position visible alone to the eyes of the teacher- — and as the latter desires to communicate 
a phrase to the pupils, they hear a voice dictating it aloud to them in the air, although 
no person is speaking at the time. 

" ' HISTORY. 

" ' The direct clairvoyance gives the student a correct sight, with regard to 
THE historical PERSONS AND PACTS treated of in the lessons learnt by the inspection of 
books, either open, closed, or at a distance — as explained in the foregoing. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 171 

'"natural history and philosophy. 

" ' The sight of the plants, flowers, minerals, animals, &c., described or 
mentioned in their books, as also such other useful details as may have been omitted by 
the author, or belong to a more minute study of the subject, is enjoyed in the same 
manner. 

" ' GEOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY. 

" ' Geographical and Astronomical Studies from Charts or Globes. — When a 
locality is named by the teacher, or is to be designated for any purpose in the course of 
study, the forefinger of the pupil is, hy iiispiration, instantaneously drawn to the exact 
spot of the map or globe where it is to be found. This action takes place before the 
reason of the students can have given them the slightest notion of the relative position 
or bearing of the place, the head following the movement of the hand, instead of directing 
it. The students are also, by the facility they acquire for receiving inspirations, 
so perfectly identified with everything belonging to the places spoken of in their 
study of geography, that they feel as though they were on the spot. So 
correct are the impressions made by the ubiquitous power of their souls on all the organs 
of the body in their temporarily perfected condition, that they appear to themselves to be, 
not where the lessons are going on, but in the very places therein referred to ; seeing, 
hearing, and feeling all that they are required or desirous to see, hear, or feel.' 

" M. Bertolacci has written in a tone of moderation and a religious spirit ; and he 
disclaims all idea ' that there is any peculiarity in his nature or that of his children, by 
which they are exceptionally qualified for the attainment of the gifts they have received.' "* 

Whilst no persons who have ever become acquainted with Mr. Bertolacci, 
or conversed with his witnesses — of whom hundreds are still living — are 
capable of questioning his veracity or impugning his statements, we know 
we are drawing heavily on the faith of those readers who are not personally 
cognizant of the overwhelming mass of testimony which surrounds the case 
and its narration. 

Perhaps in future ages, the substance of what we are now so reticent in 
offering to the acceptance Of modern readers may be deemed trivial or 
insignificant, in comparison with the soul growth to which humanity'may 
have then attained — meantime, where does our duty lie ? Why, even in 
turning to the motto of this volume, and accepting practically as well as 
theoretically the charge to proclaim "The truth against the world." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 

Besides the merely phenomenal phases of Spiritualism illustrated by the 
narratives given in the last few chapters, the message which relates to the 
conditions of life hereafter, and the religious element which grows out of 
Spiritual communion, has not been lacking in its full share of representa- 
tion, in England, although there was a strong desire manifested on the 
part of some of those who stood in the position of " I-eaders " in the ranks 
of English Spiritualism, to keep all questions of a religious and controversial 
nature in the background. 

The author's experience has ever been in this, as in all other departments 
of human thought and interests, when connected with Spiritualism, that 
Spirits themselves are at the helm of the new movement, and with or with- 
out the sympathy of mortals, they will raise up instruments, and create 

* This review may be found in full in the London SpiritvM Magazine for October, 18(35. 



172 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

opportunities for the impartation of whatever ideas they may determine to 
communicate. Thus it was, that whilst certain believers in Spirit com- 
munion, who were still steadfast in their adhesion to the Christian Church, 
and its belongings, were constantly deprecating the attempt to incorporate 
religious ideas with Spirituahsm, and protesting — often in no measured 
terms — against the " infidelities " of the American trance speakers, the 
Spirits on the other side of the Atlantic were opening up opportunities, and 
presenting impelling motives to those very speakers, to visit the mother 
country, and widen the borders of Spiritualism from its conservative position 
in private families, to the more diffusive arena of the public rostrum. 

It has been quite a common practice amongst many European Spiritual- 
ists, to endeavour to narrow down the diffusion of Spiritualism to the private 
circle, or the perusal of such " well digested " literature, as was specially 
prepared to warn preaching Spirits off the sacred preserves of orthodoxy. 

All would not do however. The stream whose sources are not on earth, 
has made its own channels, and swept away all barriers that intervened to 
check the course laid out for its flow, by higher wisdom than that of 
humanity. 

It was under this special guidance, and in virtue of her commission 
from a well-tried band of Spiritual guides that the author — a Medium for 
many phases of Spirit communion, but chiefly recognised as a speaker 
under Spiritual influence, was impelled after many years' pilgrimage in the 
New World to return, with her venerable mother, to settle once more in her 
native city of London. Mrs. Hardinge* reached England in the fall of the 
year 1865, a period that may truly be called, the blossoming time of 
Spiritualism in Great Britain. Her intention was to retire from her long 
and toilsome career as a public speaker into the qi^iet of home and literary 
occupations, but her arrival had been already anticipated by generous 
notices m the London Spiritual Magazine, and immediately on landing, 
she found herself surrounded by hosts of warm sympathizers, who although 
strangers — in the ordinary sense of social relations — were still one in heart 
with the new comer, in the desire to promote the interests of a much loved 
cause. It was in this spirit that Mrs. Hardinge, soon after her arrival in 
London, found herself compelled to abandon her projected seclusion, and 
once more to enter upon the vortex of effort to promulgate the truths of 
Spiritualism, by means of rostrum addresses. 

Early in the winter succeeding Mrs. Hardinge's arrival, a series of 
" winter soirees" were inaugurated, chiefly at the instance of Mr. Benjamin 
Coleman, Mr. William Wilkinson, Mr. Thomas Shorter, and other leaders 
of the Spiritual cause, interested in the promulgation of its philosophy. 

The scene of these gatherings was the Beethoven Rooms, Harley Street, 
Cavendish Square, where a splendid suite of salons, capable of seating 
several hundred persons was engaged, and where the guests were admitted 
in evening costume, by subscription tickets, or introductions permitted by 
the Committee. 

The company included many persons of the highest rank or eminence 
in literature and science, and at these gatherings Mrs. Hardinge gave 
weekly addresses in her capacity as an inspirational speaker during a period 
of many months. 

The subjects of the lectures were most generally selected by the audience, 
and questions on all manner of abstruse, scientific, and metaphysical 
points, were answered at the close of the addresses. 

* Now Mrs. Hardinge Britten. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 173 

The proceedings were received with tokens of the highest interest, and at 
the close of each series announced, Mrs. Hardinge was induced to renew 
her lectures, at the earnest solicitation of the friends of the movement. 

How gladly the chief promoters of these meetings welcomed the oppor- 
tunity of extending phenomenal Spiritualism into the realms of philosophy 
and mental science, may be gathered from the glowing accounts that were 
published from time to time in the London Spiritual Magazine^ especially 
the numbers for 1865-6. However gratifying these eulogimns might have 
been to the speaker, they can find no place here, and are only alluded to 
in order to mark the deep interest which inspirational addresses awaken, 
even in the minds of those least disposed to sympathize with the speaker's 
views, and to show how the cause progressed from phenomenal to intellectual 
phases of the movement. 

During her long and arduous career as a speaker in America, Mrs. 
Hardinge, having taken special interest in tendering the consoling doctrines 
of Spiritualism to the masses, was unwilling to narrow down her ministry 
to the exclusive and aristocratic listeners of the Harley Street soirees. She 
therefore proposed to her friends, that public meetings of a more general 
character should be inaugurated, the first to consist of three lectures on 
" America," to be given in St. James's Hall, the next to enter at once and 
publicly on the subject of Spiritualism in a course of Sunday evening 
addresses of the same character as those given at the winter soirees, to 
which all classes of the public should be admitted. To both these 
propositions Mrs. Hardinge's Spiritualistic friends lent their wilUng and 
generous aid. 

The secular lectures were at once undertaken, and called forth even from 
the London Times wonderfully complimentary notices of the lady lecturer 
and her pretensions ; in fact, as these addresses were totally unconnected 
with the obnoxious, and all too popular Spiritual bete noir of the age, they 
were received with the most laudatory notices from the press in general ; 
so enthusiastic indeed was the tone of commendation adopted by the 
leading journals of the metropolis, that Mr. Benjamin Coleman, a Machiavelh 
of strategy, as well as an indomitable general of strategical forces, collected 
these reports from the various papers, and published them in pamphlet 
form for general distribution. 

As the very next appearance of Mrs. Emma Hardinge's name in the 
public journals was an announcement of her Sunday evening Spiritual 
lectures, Mr. Coleman was generally thought to have stolen a march on 
the secular press, which might have induced them to regret that they had 
contributed so large a share of advertising to " the Spiritualists' new Pythia," 
as one of the repentant journals now designated the lady, who but a short 
time ago had been the subject of unqualified laudation. 

Not any longer from the columns of the secular press, but in the London 
Spiritual Magazine came the announcement of the next move on the 
Spiritual chessboard, which was to the effect that the Sunday evening 
lectures were attracting such immense and enthusiastic audiences, that they 
would be continued for an indefinite period, or at least, as long as the 
speaker could remain in the country to give them. 

About this time a valuable impulse was communicated to the Spiritual 
movement by the publication of a new paper called The Medium and Day- 
break — started by Mr. James Burns, now so well known in connection with 
this and other periodicals, as well as being the founder of the Spiritual 
Institution, Southampton Row, Bloomsbury. The assistance which an 



174 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

editor of ability and a devoted Spiricualist like Mr. Burns was able to render, 
in publishing and distributing Mrs. Hardinge's lectures, can scarcely be 
estimated. The secular journals had obviously entered into a conspiracy 
of silence in regard to meetings which were attracting immense and over- 
flowing audiences every Sunday. 

In this juncture Mr. Burns — of whom we shall have more to say here- 
after — devoted himself heart and soul to the work of publishing the 
addresses, which were issued, some in the columns of The Medium, 
others in tract and pamphlet form, whilst the Harley Street lectures were 
collected into small volumes, and distributed broadcast by hundreds, 
and on special subjects by thousands. By the indomitable energy of Mr. 
Burns,* the press found themselves defeated by their own weapons, and 
from the time when this spirited publisher commenced in earnest his work 
of literary propagandism, the movement acquired a diffusive popularity 
which made a deep mark upon public opinion both in the metropolis and 
in the provinces. 

Hitherto, circumstances had not favoured the dissemination of Spiritual 
teachings through the platform. 

Enghsh Spiritualists had been honoured with a visit from, the celebrated 
American inspirational speaker and poet, the Rev, T. L. Harris, known in 
the Spiritual ranks as " The Medium," through whom was communicated 
the charming poems entitled, "A Lyric of the Morning Land," and "An 
Epic of the Starry Heavens." 

Unfortunately, Mr. Harris's visit failed, to promote any interchange of 
kindly sentiment between the American and English SpirituaUsts, the former 
having incurred Mr. Harris's wrath for refusing to install him into the 
position of a settled ministry. The results of this disappointment he ex- 
pressed in his English addresses, wherein his former associates and fellow 
labourers were so roundly abused, that it was evident to his grieved listeners 
that the ex-reverend gentleman was afflicted with a very unspiritual form of 
Spiritualism ; hence his ministrations served rather to retard than advance 
the cause in England. Mr. B. P. Randolph, another American Spiritual 
lecturer, had also essayed the' platform, but failed to reconcile his hearers 
to his marked eccentricities. A far more satisfactory expositor of the 
Spiritual doctrines had been found in the Rev. J. M. Peebles, formerly an 
American clergyman, but then a speaker on Spiritualism, whose eloquence 
created a deep impression on audiences gathered to hear him, on both 
sides of the Atlantic. At the time of Mr. Peebles' first visit, however, 
there was no available organization to give effect to his public efforts, hence, 
however valuable, they were not appreciated as they should have been. On 
several subsequent occasions Mr. Peebles' platform addresses were listened 
to with deep interest, and his visits to England welcomed with tokens 
of high appreciation. Time and circumstances combined to favour the 
effect of Mrs. Hardinge's advent in London, hence the results of her 
inaugural meetings were most influential in opening up opportunities for 
platform work in other directions. 

Although Mrs. Hardinge could never reconcile herself to a permanent 
residence in England, and for the last fifteen years has only revisited 
the country for limited periods of time, the kind greetings and cordial 
farewells — often accompanied by substantial tokens of interest — which these 
flying visits called forth, served to create pleasant " revivalisms," which 
heightened the effect and popularity of her labours. 

One of the most talented of the lecturers that succeeded Mrs. Hardinge 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 175 

during her absence in the United States was Mrs. Cora Tappan, a, lady 
whose high reputation as an able and eloquent expositor of the Spiritual 
philosophy, stands unrivalled on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Mrs. Tappan's lectures were not only pronounced ' to be miracles of 
eloquence by the elite of the London Spiritualists, but by her efificient 
missionary labours in the provinces, she succeeded in awakening a wide- 
spread interest in Spirituahsm throughout the country. 

We have already alluded to the remarkable test facts of Spirit presence, 
afforded by the visit of Mr. Charles Foster, an American medium renowned 
for exhibiting names of deceased persons, and test facts of Spirit presence, 
by writings in raised letters, on the arm. Besides this remarkable personage, 
England was visited by Messrs. Redman, J. B. Conklin, and Colchester, 
all powerful physical test mediums. 

The fact that they were professional mediums and demanded liberal fees 
for their services, was of course a subject of reproach, which the opposition 
could not afford to pass by unheeded. Not that the English people are 
grudging'in their dealings, whether in trade, commerce, or art ; but, as we 
have already noted, the orthodox method of regarding Spiritual gifts as 
" Divine endowments," which must not be desecrated by association with 
" filthy lucre," threw an absurd and superstitious glamour over the subject, 
which exempted it from the ordinary methods of justice and common sense. 
When this unreasonable spirit was met on its own ground, and mediums, 
visiting the country from foreign lands, refused to take compensation for 
their services, rich presents were often pressed upon them in greater prodi- 
gality than their services could have commanded as payment, but when set 
fees were required, the whole community was aroused to the iniquity of 
making God-like gifts the subject of traffic, &c., &c. 

We shall devote the remainder of this chapter to a brief notice of 
another Transatlantic visitor whose reputation for the beneficent use he 
made of his marvellous powers of healing by touch, had long preceded 
him; we speak of Dr. J, R. Newton of Rhode Island, U.S., who arrived 
in this country for a second visit during the month of May, 1870. 

Stimulated by the reports of his many wonderful cures, the leading 
Spiritualists of London met together at the "Beethoven Rooms," Harley 
Street, on Thursday, May 12th, to tender to Dr. Newton a cordial welcome 
in the form of a public reception. 

The meeting was not only a representative one, the Spiritualists of eminence 
from the provinces as well as from the metropolis flocking in from all parts 
of the country, but those who attended were prompt to bear testimony to the 
excellent services of their distinguished guest, by relating several incidents 
in connection with his powers as a healer, the recital of which must serve 
in this place, as a sample of the good work performed by Dr. Newton 
during his brief residence in England. 

In the course of their several addresses, Messrs. Coleman, Tebb, Shorter, 
the Rev. J. M. Peebles — who happened to be in England at the time— 
and Mr. S. C. Hall, gave pointed and interesting delineations of the real 
status of English Spiritualism at the period in question, and the unpre- 
meditated testimony borne by these gentlemen at a time when their 
utterances were not given for effect on the outside world, may be received 
as of more value than any elaborately prepared statements. 

Mr. Benjamin Coleman, the chief promoter of the meeting, was unani- 
mously called upon to preside, and the exercises of the evening proceeded as 
follows. The Chairman, after stating that the object of the meeting was to 



176 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

give Dr. Newton a hearty welcome, closed a pertinent speech on the value 
of the healing power with the following remarks : — 

" In America Dr. Newton stands pre-eminent for his healing powers, as proved by- 
recorded facts spread over the last fourteen years, and many of the cures effected by him 
were of a very wonderful description. When in New York and Boston, I heard of Dr. 
Newton's powers in this respect. One gentleman told me of a case where Dr. Newton had 
restored sight to a blind man, who had been unable to see for seven or eight years 
previously, and who was cured by Dr. Newton in a few minutes. Dr. Newton only arrived 
in Liverpool last Saturday, May 7th, and he was asked to go on the following day and see 
Mr. Ashley, of that town, who had been afflicted with a very serious illness for some time, 
and Mr. Wason, who is present, has given me the following statement of what took 
place : — 

" ' Mr. Ashley resides at 5, Catherine Street, Liverpool. On the 27th December last he 
was at Oxford and broke a blood-vessel in the lungs. A leading medical man, Mr. Freeborn, 
was called in, who prepared Mrs. Ashley for the worst, and told her that there was no 
hope ; that her husband would go off in a rapid consumption, and none could say how 
soon ; he advised that he should not be removed to Liverpool, as his strength was not 
equal to the journey. Mrs. Ashley prayed fervently for Divine aid, that she might be 
comforted and directed according to her trial, feeling assured that her husband would 
shortly depart — and turning to her Bible, opened it at a venture, and found her finger, she 
knows not how, on the text in St. John, where Jesus, speaking of Lazarus, says, " This 
sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God." From that moment she felt assured 
that her husband would not die, and she told Dr. Freeborn her strong impressions. Some 
nttle time after this Mr. Ashley was removed to Liverpool on a bed fitted up in a railway 
carriage. For about five months he was confined to his room, no one expecting his recovery 
except his wife. Once Mr. Gardiner carried him like a child down stairs, and had great 
difiiculty in getting him back, and fears were entertained that he would not recover the 
shock. Last Saturday, May 7th, Dr. Simmons prepared Mrs. Ashley for the worst, and 
intimated that, the great change might take place at any moment. Last Sunday, the 8th 
of May, Dr. NevH:on and myself went in a cab to Mr. Ashley's ; the Doctor went upstairs 
to Mr. Ashley's sick-room, requesting that none should follow but Mrs. Ashley. In about 
five or six minutes. Dr. Newton brought Mr. Ashley down stairs, and took him into the 
open air and said he was cured ; he told him that he coidd walk a mile and a half, which 
he urged him to do, and to eat a beefsteak and drink a pint of ale for dinner — although 
his doctor had fed him on slops for the last five months. Mr. Ashley came to the evening 
service and stood alone a considerable time, whilst Dr. Newton told the audience of the 
case, which Mr. Ashley confirmed in all respects. Mr. and Mrs. Ashley gave me this 
account yesterday (Monday), at their house, after Mr. Ashley had been out, and eaten a 
mutton chop with pudding and ale, and after a long walk. . . . Previous to Dr. Newton's 
seeing him, Tie had not been out of his bed for five months,^ " 

Mr. Coleman then went on to say : — 

" I cannot in this short address give one-hundredth part of the cases on record, some 
of which have taken place very recently. Mr. Watson, who has come over from America 
with Dr. Newton, told me that he had lost the sight of one eye, in consequence of a piece 
of steel getting into it by accident ; inflammation set in, and he lost the sight of the other 
eye. Two years ago his wife was impressed to induce her husband to go with her to 
Montreal from New York, to visit Dr. Newton. They arrived in Montreal as Dr. Newton 
was on the point of leaving it, and directly Dr. Newton saw the patient, whose eyes were 
covered with a bandage, he told him that he would do good to one of them, thereby 
showing a knowledge that both of them were not in the same state. He then removed 
the bandage, and said, ' You can see, can't you ?' and althoiigh he had only been in the room 
seven minutes, he found that he could read small print. Mr. Watson is present, and can 
testify to the truth of these facts. 

" In London Dr. Newton will doubtless encounter plenty of opposition ; if he does not 
succeed the medical profession will call him a sharper, and if he does succeed they will 
call him a lunatic ; they are sure to say that he is mad, because he has announced his 
intention not bo charge a fee to anybody during his stay in England. 

" I do not beUeve that Dr. Newton will cure everybody, nor indeed half of those who 
call upon him, but there is no doubt that he can efiect very wonderful cures, and that he 
has a great work to do in this country." 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 177 

After the reading of a cordial, and scholarly address, from the pen of 
Mr. Thos. Shorter, that gentleman was called upon to speak, which he did 
in substance as follows :— 

" I had the good fortune to make the personal acquaintance and friendship of Dr. 
Newton on the occasion of a brief visit he paid to this country in the autumn of 1864. 
I was then deeply impressed, as I think all who know him must be impressed, with his 
great simplicity and gentleness of character — his ingenuousness of disposition, singleness 
of purpose, and entire disinterestedness. I allude to this, not for the purpose of compli- 
ment, but because I believe that these qualities of character — this large-heartedness and 
quick active sympathy has had much to do with the marked success as a healer which 
Dr. Newton has achieved. On the occasion of that visit, as but little previous notice of 
it had been given, and it was at the time of year when most of our friends were absent 
from town, there were but few to meet him and hold out to him the hand of welcome. 
However, a genuine man with a high sense of duty, and who delights in the execution of 
a noble mission, is not easily discouraged, and I am glad to find that the untoward 
circumstances to which I have referred, have not deterred Dr. Newton from repeating his 
visit under happier auspices, and I hope it will be found with more satisfactory results. 
During the interval that has elapsed since his first visit the position of Spiritualism in 
England has changed very much for the better ; pubhc opinion on the subject has grown 
and ripened ; publications and books devoted to its exposition and advocacy have 
multiplied ; the platform, too, as well as the press, has been called into requisition — 
lectures have been dehvered, conferences held, Sunday services established, various forms 
of associative effort instituted, and societies and individuals have been stimulated to its 
investigation ; and thus conviction has spread, and a better understanding of the subject 
has been reached ; and to-night, instead of the few friends who welcomed Dr. Newton 
on his first visit, I am glad to see so goodly an assemblage. I trust that the work which 
Dr. Newton has begun so well in Liverpool will be continued in London, and that he will 
be as successful in curing disease in England as he has been in America. Many no doubt 
will think him mad, but looking at the results of this so-called insanity, I can only hope 

that it may soon become contagious Some four or five years since, when 

Dr. Newton was in Philadelphia, he was brought before a magistrate on some 
trumpery charge at the instigation of the doctors. Those whom he had cured, 
naturally indignant at the treatment of their benefactor, came forward unsolicited 
to the number it is said of about fifteen hundred, thronging the court and all its 
avenues, eager to tender their unsought-for evidence of the reality of their cure — 
these included the cures of blindness, deafness, lameness, paralysis, and other chronic 
maladies, seemingly incurable. Of course the charge was summarily dismissed. I will 
refer to one other case nearer home. The Rev. Frederick Rowland Young, pastor of 
the Free Christian Church, Swindon, was not only a minister of the Gospel, but a 
believer in the gracious word of the Master, ' The works that I do shall ye do 
also,' and when evidence was brought before him of the cures wrought by Dr. Newton 
in America, so strong was his faith, that he crossed the Atlantic to be cured by 
him. His faith was rewarded by an immediate cure. Not only did he return cured of 
the neuralgia with which he had been afiiicted for many years, and which physicians had 
been unable to remove, but he himself received through Dr. Newton the gift of healing, 
which he has freely exercised in his own town and neighbourhood, as well as for the 
benefit of persons living at a greater distance. Last summer, while at Swindon for a few 
days, I heard much of these cures, and one case came under my notice of a poor woman 
who had lost her eyesight for many years who had been cured by Mr. Young by the simple 
laying on of hands and prayer ; and she was then going about her ordinary household 
occupations. Whether Dr. Newton will be as successful here as in America I cannot say. 
When I consider the educated prejudice and indurated scepticism with which he will 
have to contend, I confess my expectations are greatly moderated. All the more credit 
to Dr. Newton, who, knowing all this, and in the face of these repellent influences, has 
ventured again to come amongst us. The least we can do is to acknowledge his great 
kindness in doing so, and by our sympathy and co-operation to aid him all we can in the 
great and good work in which he is engaged — the relief of suffering humanity, irrespective 
of all considerations of sect, party, country, class, or creed." 

" Mr. William Tebb said : ' I do not rise to make a speech : there are those here, some 
of whom have already addressed you, who are accustomed to speak in public assemblies, 
and I am not. I cannot, however, refrain from expressing my concurrence with the 
sentiments contained in the address just read, and my satisfaction in seeing so many 
assembled here this evening to do honour to so distinguished a philanthropist as Dr. 
Newton. It is related of Faraday, that when he made a new discovery he would show 
12 



178 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

it and explain it to his friends, evincing a delight which they could not always appreciate, 
and the question was frequently put to him, " What is the use of it ?" To which the 
Professor would reply, '' Wait, and we'll find some use for it." Now, this question is 
frequently put with regard to Spiritualism, and I confess that if it was confined, as many 
seem to suppose, to the phenomena of raps, table-tipping, and the like, one might be 
puzzled to answer the question satisfactorily. But when it is shown there is a continuous 
influx from the spiritual world, which is manifested in all the variety of forms witnessed 
in the Apostolic age, in healing the sick, as illustrated by our gaest Dr. Newton ; in 
inspirational speaking, so powerfully instanced in this hall by Mrs. Hardinge ; in the 
power to cast out evil spirits ; and when the facts of modern Spiritualism demonstrate 
the truth of all the most cherished beliefs of humanity, showing the ever- watchful interest 
which those who have gone before take in those that remain, and giving us clearer and 
better views of the future as well as of the present life, I think we may affirm that the 
good is unquestionable. I do not, however, intend to pursue this subject, but permit me 
before taking my seat to assure Dr. Newton that the kindly feehngs he has expressed in 
his letters to Spiritualists in this country are reciprocated by Spirituahsts here towards 
himself and his fellow-workers. We in England owe a deep debt of gratitude to the 
earlier advocates of the movement in America, to public men like Governor Tallmadge, 
of Wisconsin, and Judge Edmonds, of New York ; to clergymen like the late Rev. John 
Pierpont, of Boston, the successor of the celebrated Dr. Channing, and Adin Ballou ; to 
men eminent in the scientific world, like the late Professor Mapes, and Dr. Hare, of 
Philadelphia ; to men like Dr. Willis, and A. E. Newton, who for their faith as Spiritualists 
have been expelled from college and from church, and many others — with noble women 
not a few, who have borne the loss of worldly position, the ridicule, vituperation, and all 
that general hostility which ever seems to follow those whe identify themselves with the 
advent of unpopular truths.' 

"Mr. J. M. Peebles said : ' I feel some embarrassment in making any remarks, as this 
is a meeting of noble-hearted Englishmen to welcome a distinguished friend of my own 
from America. I am exceedingly happy to be in your midst, and especially to be upon 
this platform alongside a friend and brother whom I have known, loved, and respected 

for many years Truly it is often asked, " What good does Spiritualism do ?" 

It gives demonstration of a future existence, for even now clear-headed men often ask the 
question, " If a man die, shall he live again ? " Once, as a minister, I attended a funeral 
of an only child. My text was " Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid thern 
not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The whole of m;^ sermon was about " faith," 
but as the mother baptized the coffin with her tears, she turned and said to me, '' Tell me 
what you know about the immortal world ; my aching heart asks for more than faith — for 
knowledge." She added, " Tell me what you know of that world ; shall I know my child ? 
Will my child know me ?" — and 1 was dumb. But now, since I have talked with the angels, 
and have heard their lute-like voices, I no longer talk only about ''faith," for now "We 
know that we have a house eternal in the heavens." Spiritualism teaches us and proves 
that there is an immortal life beyond the tomb. Spiritualism is spreading to the ends of 
the earth. I found its phenomena in Smyrna, in Constantinople, in Athens, and upon 
the Pacific coast ; in fact, wherever thinking men are found, there is this living truth 
proclaimed. I know much of Dr. Newton, for hundreds have clasped my hand who have 
been healed by him. To pick out sohtary instances from among the large number is like 
trying to select some specially bright star from the thousands in the midnight heavens. 
In Buffalo, several years ago, I was present at the house of Dr. Newton, when a gentleman 
was brought in upon his bed, who for years had had paralysis ; Dr. Newton looked at him, 
simply laid his hands upon him, and said, " Disease, I bid you depart ! Arise ! you are 
well ; " and the man left the bed and crossed the room, then stood before Dr. Newton 
weeping with joy. " Stop," said Dr. Newton, "it is not I ; it is the spirit power of which 
I am but the humble instrument." On another occasion a lady could not get near him, 
and Dr. Newton was impressed to say, " It does not matter, she is well," and she was 

cured. He has cured the lame, the dumb, and the blind As Mrs. Hardinge 

stands at the head of American inspirational speakers, so Dr. Newton stands at the head 
of all the healing mediums connected with the movement. Before him disease departs, 
and when it does not depart at once, it sometimes departs very shortly afterwards, because 
of its cause being removed — a stream will flow for a little time after its sources of supply 
have been cut off. I have great faith in Dr. Newton's cures, far more faith than has been 
expressed by some of those who have spoken before me, because I have seen more of Dr. 
Newton's work than they have. I know that Dr. Newton will nobly do his work, and 
that he will be blessed by God and His holy angels : I trust that all present will extend 
to him love and warmth of soul. Personally, the more time I spend in England, the 
better I comprehend and love Englishmen, and I wish to bespeak for Dr. Newton cordial 
welcomes and greetings while he remains in this country.' 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 179 

" Dr. J. R. Newton then rose amid loud and continued applause. He spoke under 
spirit influence, with slowness and frequent pauses, and said : ' I feel overwhelmed by 
your cordial welcome. I stand before you as a plain man, and feel like a Utile chUd. I 
am a practical Christian, and am ready at any time to make a sacrifice of myself for the 
sake of Christianity. It is a wonder to me that few men ever try to live daily as Jesus 
lived. When I became Chiistian in life, spiritual gifts were showered upon me, and this 
was as wonderful to myself as to those whom I address. I believe in spirit communion, 
and I even know the names of some of the spirits who control me in the exercise of my 

gifts As to the power of healing, it is merely an illustration of the power of 

love. When any sick person comes before me, I lay my hands on that person and feel 
that I love him, and if the patient is not antagonistic, he is almost sure to be healed ; 
tell them I love them, and when this opens their hearts to me, the disease must 
depart. I make no profession to be a public speaker. I am entirely under the control of 

the spirits I cannot say that I have come to England at any sacrifice, because 

it was the will of my Father that I should come. I have not come to London to make 
money, and I shall receive rich and poor alike. The welcome I have received prevents me 
from speaking as freely as I wish to do. I have much to say, but I feel overwhelmed at the 

reception you have given me. I am heart and soul with you It is not a 

matter of belief with me that spirits control me — it is knowledge. Pythagoras, Socrates, 
and Plato walk the earth to-day, and so do all the great and good men wh'b have gone 
before us. I shall meet you again next Sunday, and wish you all well, with many thanks 
and blessings for your kind attention.' 

" Mr. S. C. Hall said : Before the meeting closes, I should like to say a few words of 
congratulation to Dr. Newton. I believe that I express the sentiments of all Spiritualists 
when I say that it is their desire to give a cordial greeting to all Americans ; and that it 
is a great duty to bring Americans and Englishmen closer together, that they may under- 
stand each other better than they have done. I should not have risen at all except to call 
attention to one point. I want to tell Dr. Newton that Spiritualism is making great 
progress in this country among great men and great thinkers, and men who will become 
great authorities. I rejoice to tell him that a Society the other day called vsdtnesses before 
them, and made clear and close inquiry ; that that Society is about to send forth a report 
which will do much good among outsiders. ... I believe that the report of the 
Dialectical Society will go far towards the removal of the chief obstacles in the path of 
Spiritualism, and make it easier to help on our divine belief. We shall then be, I trust, 
the humble instruments in God's hands of destroying the Materialism of the present age, 
for this I consider to be the great purpose of Spiritualism. ... I have myself full 
knowledge of the truth of Spirituahsm, and I hope that many who are not Spiritualists 
will take my testimony as worth something when I express that certainty of belief. The 
more Spiritualism has been inquired into, the more its truth has been exhibited ; I thank 
God for having given us "opportunities of proving that which we now believe and know. 
Dr. Newton has reached London at a good time, with less difficulties than of old to 
encounter, and with less probability of being considered mad or dishonest.' 

" Thanks having been voted to the Chairman, the business part of the meeting then 
came to a close, and it assumed the character of a conversazione." . . . 



" DR. NEWTON AT THE CAVENDISH ROOMS. 

" On Sunday evening at the close of the service, and after a very excellent discourse 
by Mr. Peebles, Dr. Newton invited all who wei-e afflicted with disease or pain to come 
forward. Many did so ; and declared themselves either cured or greatly benefited by the 
Doctor's treatment. These included headache, deafness, stammering, neuralgia, heart 
disease, &c. His success in one case was very marked ; that of the son of Mr. F. Cowper, 
388, Edgware Road, who had been unable to walk without crutches for eight years past. 
After Dr. Newton's treatment, the lad was able to walk home — a distance of about two 
miles. On Monday he attended at the Cambridge Hall, and had his spine straightened, 
which has made him measure about four inches taller. He now walks with a stick, and 
improves daily. On Sunday, May 22nd, a similar scene was witnessed, and on both 
occasions the hall was densely crowded." 

'' DR. NEWTON AT THE CAMBRIDGE HALL. 

" The Medium says : * Dr. Newton commenced a regular course of treatment of the 
poor on Monday morning. May 16th, in the Cambridge Hall, Newman Street, Oxford 
Street. He attends between the hours of nine and twelve, and will accept no money for 
his services. A large number came to be healed, and they have steadily increased each 



i8o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

day. Many remarkable cures have been made. It would be of little use to fill our columns 
with an account of the remarkable instances of benefit which could be culled from the 
Doctor's treatment on one morning only. Dr. Newton commenced on "Wednesday morning 
by removing a curvature from the spine of a young lady, the daughter of Lady Helena 
Newenham. A lad who had not spoken, except in a whisper, for three years, was enabled 
to speak, so as to be heard distinctly over the hall. Mr. Hubbard, of Rathbone Place, was 
cured of asthma of long standing. Mr. Watts, Rathbone Place, was cured of lameness 
from wounds. Mr. Charles Clutterbuck, 74 years of age, had been totally blind for six 
years ; after treatment, he could see faces and tell the colour of Mr. Watson's beard. 
Mrs. Anna Crisp, 23, King Street, had been paralyzed for three years ; cured by one 
treatment. She had been affected on one side throughout. Robert Andrews, 151, 
Metropolitan Meat Market, was blind of one eye, and had pains in the head and hand ; 
after treatment he pronounced himself " all right." James Armstrong, 44, Brindley 
Street, Harrow Road, was afflicted with paralyzed legs for nearly two years. He could 
walk with difficulty on a pair of crutches, but he went away with his crutches over his 
shoulder. Many who were not perfectly cured were much relieved. Some were pro- 
nounced absolutely incurable. " It would be as easy to make new eyes as to cure you," 
said the Doctor to several who were entirely past recovery. Others were benefited, and 
some were told to come again ; others that their diseases were mitigated, and would pass 
away in a few weeks.' " 

" DR. NEWTON AND MR. ASHLEY. 

" Since the foregoing was in type, we have received the following communication : — 

" ' To the, Editor of the Spiritual Magazine. 

"'May 23rd, 1870. 
" ' Sir, — I have received a letter this morning from Mr. Wm. Ashley, of Liverpool, 
whose case I alluded to at Harley Street, and which was the first case upon which Dr. 
Newton tried his healing power after his arrival in England. Mr. Ashley now writes : 

" May 22nd. 
" You will be pleased to hear that I am gaining strength daily. I generally walk out 
one or two hours when the weather permits, either alone or with my wife. I enjoy my 
food as much as ever I did, and have no doubt but in a sliort time I shall be in robust 
health — thanks to dear Dr. Newton." 

'' * You can make whatever use you please of this communication. 
" ' You will see that the press is in full blast against the Doctor ; the Telegraph of 
this day being most violent ; the Echo of Saturday pubHshing a letter from a patient who 
was not healed ; the Advertiser denouncing him as a humbug. 

" The only fair account was given in the Daily News of Saturday ; but the writer did 
not half state the facts he witnessed. I was there, and many cases were marvellous — 
unmistakable ! " Yours truly, 

" Benj. Coleman." 

"dr. NEWTON AND THE PRESS. 

" The Liverpool Mercury has a long article on Dr. Newton's proceedings in Liverpool. 
On Sunday, May 8th, he attended two meetings and operated on from thirty to forty 
persons, and all, it is admitted, with one exception, professed themselves benefited, A 
portion of the London press has begun to Telegraph false reports and Echo dirty insinua- 
tions. "Tis easy as lying,' said Shakespeare, and newspaper scribes well know how easy 
that is. 

" The Daily News in a long article gives a tolerably fair account of some of the pro- 
ceedings during what the writer calls Dr. Newton's morning performance, and this toler- 
able fairness was so much a surprise to Dr. Newton, amidst the furious blasts of others of 
the press, that he had the innocence to thank the Daily News and even to ' bless ' the 
editor. This was too much for the editor, and he has hastened to repudiate the blessing, 
and to withdraw all his fairness, saying, with great truth, that such a thing was never in 
his mind. A great deal more of this is of course in store for Dr. Newton, and he has 
made up his account to meet it. Perhaps the source of the Doctor's power to heal may 
itself render him not the most philosophic or prudent person in speaking, and he may not 
be a good exponent of the philosophy of the subject. In this way additional difficulties 
may be thrown in his own way, and in that of the public, to prevent their understanding 
the rationale of this power, even to the small extent to which it can be understood. . . 
.... But apart from this, we should be glad to know why a benevolent gentleman 
cannot assert this power in his own person, and endeavour to exercise it at his own cost. 



\ 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. i8i 

without drawing down on himself the blind ferocity of the press and the public. We do 
not know why he should be called a blasphemer and an impostor, and have the whole 
pack of the press, like so many hounds, yelping at his heels. In America, where we hav? 
watched his course for many years, he has relieved and cured thousands, and is a poorer 
man to-day than he was five years ago, though his powers of healing are said to be greater. 
Already he has been the means of curing many in England during this short visit ; and 
we should have thought the wise plan would have been to watch the result and tabulate 
his work, and see what it comes to before becoming abusive. It suits the temper of the 
press, and its ignorance of such matters, to begin by abuse ; and so we must be content 
to let them go on in their own way. Anything above mere physics always produces this 
unholy rage. We wish that some healer could be found who could cure this public 



Our Spiritualistic readers have, no doubt, like the author herself, too 
often heard the parrot cry of Cui bono to marvel why — even with all the 
excisions of extraneous matter we have made — we should have published 
the above account in extenso from the pages of the London Spiritual 
Magazine of Uecemher, 1870. 

To non-spiritualistic readers who may perchance glance over these 
pages we would say, "Eead, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the above 
account, before you again ask the ten thousand times answered question, 
" What is the use of Spiritualism ? " 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 

Of Spiritual Associations, 

In 1865 an association was formed under the name and style of "The 
Association of Progressive Spiritualists of Great Britain," and the following 
is a brief summary of its aims as reported in the London Spiritual Magazine 
for December, 1865 : — 

" The ' Association of Progressive Spiritualists of Great Britain,' which recently held 
its first convention at Darlington, has issued — ' A circular respectfully addressed to the 
friends of Spiritualism and the public generally ; ' in which, accepting as their definition 
of Spiritualism the motto of the Spiritual Magazine, they state that : — 

" ' The principal objects we have in view, are, as an association, to meet once a year, or 
oftener, if it be deemed advisable, for the purpose of social communion, interchange of 
sentiment ; to record our united experiences, and the progress which Spiritualism is 
making in and around us ; to devise means for difi"using among our fellow men and 
women the principles of this Divine philosophy, by the distribution of the best tracts and 
books we have upon the subject, and the delivery throughout the kingdom of lectures by 
persons of approved character and abihty.' 

" A second convention is announced for the last week in July, 1866, at Newcastle-on- 
Tyne. The secretary of the Association is Dr. McLeod, of Newcastle." 

Of the Convention announced as above, the reports were scarcely as 
favourable as could have been desired. A general lack of unity seemed 
to pervade the assembly and the papers presented were not calculated to 
edify those outside the ranks of Spiritualism, however interesting they 



i82 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

might have been to the writers. The following remarks conclude a report 
of this gathering furnished by the London Spiritual 



" Amid much that is crude and undigested in the papers and speeches here reported, 
there are some well worthy a better companionship, especially one by Mr. Etchells, on 
' The Atmosphere of Intelligence, Pleasure, and Pain ; or a Chapter from the Harmony of 
Matter, as unfolded in the Circles of Spiritualists who meet at Brothers Chapman, Varley, 
and Etchells', Huddersfield.' This paper has evidently been prepared with great care ; 
the facts it relates, especially those concerning the phenomena of ' the Double,' are of great 
interest ; and the circles named by Mr. Etchells can hardly be better employed in the 
interest of Spiritualism than in the further prosecution of these investigations." 

For a few succeding years, conventions were held either in London or the 
provinces, but these gatherings were seldom participated in by the majority 
of the English Spiritualists, nor were they conducive to any very important 
results. 

Conventions appear to be more in harmony with the genius of American 
than English Spiritualism, and we have but few evidences that their action 
in England has promoted the progress of the cause or the spirit of unity 
amongst its supporters. 

The invariable struggle between the extremes of RadicaHsm and 
Conservatism which so often disturbs the harmony of associative bodies, is 
a prevaiHng condition, of which the Spiritualists have had to learn, by 
painful experience. 

One of their most severe lessons in this direction was read to them in the 
determined opposition manifested by "The Royal Society of Great 
Britain,'' against the admission of '' Spiritualism " as a theme of discussion 
worthy the attention of that august body. Several of the Fellows were 
earnest believers in Spiritualism, and thinking they perceived in its 
phenomena, subjects quite as worthy the attention of eminent scientists as 
the genesis of a worm or the precise number of markings on a fossil trilo- 
bite, they made strenuous efforts to introduce papers on the subject of the 
marvellous demonstrations of unknown force which the phenomena of 
Spiritualism display. It was in the amazing assumptions of contempt and 
indifference with which these propositions were repelled, that the Spiritualists 
were led to believe that Societies in general are banded together for the 
defence of the old against the innovations of the new, and those who 
presume to try and enhghten the said Societies upon the subject of new ideas, 
must be taught, that anything a very learned, especially a Royal Society, 
does not already know, cannot exist, or if it presume to maintain an 
existence without the pale of such an authoritative body, cannot be worth 
knowing. 

It was doubtless under the influence of this high-toned monopoly of all 
knowledge worth the having, that Professor Tyndall, Mr. Palgrave, and 
other members of the Royal Society of Great Britain, maintained a long 
and acrimonious correspondence with Mr. William Wilkinson, Professors 
Wallace and Cromwell Varley, Sir J. E. Tennant, and others, on the question 
of bringing the phenomena claimed to be " Spiritual," before the members 
of the Royal Society, and although the Mediumship of Mr. D. D. Home 
was courteously tendered as an illustration of the assertions made by the 
SpirituaUsts, the scornful rejection of this offer seemed necessary to con- 
vince the zealous propagandists, how useless it is to try and convince 
those, who neither desire nor intend to be convinced of any facts they do 
not originate, or any truths they do not themselves already know. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 183 

Although the action of Societies as a general rule appears to be 
ephemeral in connection with Spiritualism, its use being simply available 
for temporary purposes of propagandism, there have been a vast number of 
attempts at organization in the ranks of Spirituahsm. One of the most 
permanent and influential associations that has ever been formed in Great 
Britain has been known under the name of " The British National Associ- 
ation of Spiritualists." It may not be generally understood that this 
organization owes its first foundation in the metropolis to the steadfast 
though quiet and unobtrusive efforts of Mr. Dawson Rogers, of .Rose Villa, 
Finchley. This gentleman — one of the veteran Spiritualists of London — 
has for many years laboured unceasingly to promote the interests of 
Spiritualism, and both by purse and person has maintained every good 
work which has tended to advance " the cause." Besides devoting himself 
with tireless energy to the foundation and conduct of the " British National 
Association of Spiritualists," the movement owes to Mr. Dawson Rogers 
the foundation of the admirable periodical entitled Light. With the excep- 
tion of the London Spiritual Magazine., Light is unquestionably the highest 
toned, and most scholarly periodical that has ever issued from the Spiritual 
Press, and Mr. Dawson Rogers's good services to the cause of Spiritualism 
have been for many long years pursued so faithfully, so effectively, yet with 
such a total' absence of personal display, that we feel but too happy in 
offering this humble tribute to one, whose way marks in the path of progress 
have been far more prominent, than his honoured name. To return to 
Mr. Rogers's first great public effort in promoting the foundation of the 
British National Association of Spiritualists. In a brief sketch of this 
important movement published a few years since in the London Spiritualist., 
the editor says : — 

" Some time in 1873 it was resloved to form a national organisation of Spiritualists in 
Great Britain. This was done at a meeting at Liverpool, to which everybody had been 
invited by means of advertisements and special letters to well-known men. Thus was 
the standard raised of "Friendly union among SpirituaKsts." Fierce attempts were 
made to kill the organisation, more especially by the press, but the workers fought their 
way, and succeeded in planting a central establishment in London, and in doing some 
public work in addition, more especially the founding of fortnightly meetings to consider 
public questions relating to Spiritualism." 

Soon after its first inauguration, the Society issued a well-prepared tract, 
in which was published the list of distinguished persons who became its 
members and associates. Although it would be impossible to give in extenso 
a Ust which includes more than a hundred names and addresses, it may 
not be out of place to make the following selection from amongst the most 
noteworthy personages of the association : — 

"BRITISH NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS (ESTABLISHED 1873.) 



Alexander Calder, Esq., 1, Hereford Square, West Brompton, S.W. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Blackburn, Charles, Parkfield, Didsbury, Manchester. 

Coleman, Benjamin, 1, Bernard Villas, Upper Norwood. 

Fitz-Gerald, Mrs., 19, Cambridge Street, Hyde Park, W. 

Fitz-Gerald, Desmond G., M.S.Tel.E., 6, Loughborough Road North, Brixton, S.W. 

Gregory, Mrs. Makdougall, 21, Green Street, Grosvenor Square, W. 

Honywood, Mrs., 52, Warwick Square, S.W. 



1 84 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

viCE-PBEsrDENTs — Continued. 

Jencken, Henry D., M.R.I., Barrister-at-Law, Goldsmitli Buildings, E.G. 

Massey, 0. C, Barrister-at-Law, 96, Portland Place, W. 

Rogers, E. D., Rose Villa, Church End, Finchley, N. 

Speer, Stanhope Templeman, M.D., Douglas House, 13, Alexandra Road, South 

Hampstead, N.W. 
Wyld, Geo, M.D., 12, Great Cumberland Place, Hyde Park, W. 



Isham, Sir Charles, Bart., Lamport Hall, Northampton. 
Ivimey, Joseph, Berkeley Mansion, 64, Seymour Street, W. 
Joy, Algernon, M.I.C.E., Jimior United Service Club, S.W. 
Stock, St. George W., M.A., Queen Street, Oxford. 
Theobold, Morell, 30, Mark Lane, E,C. 

HONORARY OR CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 

His Imperial Highness Nicholas, Duke of Leuchtenburg, St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Prince Emile de Sayn Wittgenstein, Lieutenant- General, Aide-de-Camp General de S.M.I. 

I'Empereur de Russie, Vevey, Switzerland. 
Ahmed Rassim Pacha, Khan de Rassim Pacha a Bahdj^ Capoussou, Constantinople. 
The Baron Von Vay, President of the Spiritual Society at Pesth. 
The Baroness Adelma Von Vay, Gonobitz, bei Potschach, Styria, via Gratz, Austria. 
The Baroness Guldenstubbe, 29, Rue de Trevise, Paris. 
Colonel Don Santiago Bassols y Folguera, Madrid. 
El Visconde de Torres-Solauot, Madrid. 
The Hon. Alexandre Aksakof, Russian Imperial Councillor, Nevsky Prospect, 6, St. 

Petersburg. 
The Baron von Dirckink-Holmfeld, Pinneberg, Holstein. 
M. Gustave de Veh, Bischoffsberger ViUa, Interlaken, Switzerl9,nd. 
Mme. de Veh, Bischoffsberger Villa, Interlaken, Switzerland. 
Signor Sebastiano Fenzi, Banca Fenzi, Florence, Italy. 
Baboo Pearychand Mittra, 7, Swallow Lane, Calcutta. 
James Mylne, Esq., Beheea, East Indian Railway, Bengal. 
A. J. Riko, Esq., Gude Molstraat, the Hague, Holland. 
M. C. Constant, Smyrna, Turkey in Asia. 

Dr. Maximilian Perty, Professor of Natural Science, Berne, Switzerland. 
Dr. Franz Hoffmann, Professor of Philosophy, Wurzburg tjniversity, Germany. 
Gregor C. Wittig, Esq., Kornerstrasse 2b, Leipsic, Germany. 
W. H. Terry, Esq., 84, Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 
M. Leymarie, 7, Rue de Lille, Paris. 
Epes Sargent, Esq., Box 2,985, Boston, U.S.A. 
H. T. Child, Esq., M.D., 634, Race Street, Philadelphia, U.S.A. 
E. Crowell, Esq., M.D., 196, Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. 
M. F. Clavairoz, Consul-General de France, Trieste, Austria. 
G. L. Ditson, Esq., M.D., Albany, New York, U.S.A., 
W. L. Sammons, Esq., Cape Town, South Africa. 
J. H. Gledstanes, Esq., Merignac, Gironde, France. 
Rev. Samuel Watson, Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A. 
Luther Cobby, Esq., 9 Montgomery Place, Boston, U.S.A. 
M. de Bassompierre, 285, Chaussee St. Pierre, Etterbeck, Brussels. 
M. A. Anthleme Fritz, President de I'Union, 67, Rue du Midi, Brussels 
Lieut.-Col. P. Jacoby, 11, Rue de Vienne, Brussels. 
Le Comte de Bullet, Hotel de I'Athenee, Rue Scribe, Paris. 
Captain R. F. Burton, F.R.G.S., H.M. Consul, Trieste, Austria. 
A. R. Wallace, Esq., F.R.G.S., Rosehill, Dorking. 
Isaac B. Rich, Esq., 9, Montgomery Place, Boston, U.S.A. 
W. S. Godbe, Esq., Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. 
Dr. Grunhut, Waitzner Boulevard, 57, Buda-Pesth, Hungary. 
Dr. A. E. Nehrer, Eperjes, Hungary. 
Signor Damiani, Salita Pontecorvo, 60, Naples. 
Berks T. Hutchinson, Esq., 2, New Street, Cape Town, South Africa. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 185 

ALLIED SOCIETIES, 

The Liverpool Psychological Society. Secretary, S. Pride, Esq., 8, Grampian Road, Edge 

- Lane, Liverpool. 
L'Union Spirite et Magnetique. Secretary, M. Charles Fritz, 121, Rue de Lou vain, 

Brussels. 
The Brixton Psychological Society. Hon. Sec, H. E. Frances, Esq., 22, Cowley Road, 

Brixton, S.W. 
The Spiriter-Forscher Society, Buda-Pesth. Secretary, M. Anton Prochaszka, Josefstadt 

Erzherzog Alexander -gasse, 23, Buda-Pesth, Hungary. 
Dalston Association of Enquirers into Spiritualism. Hon. Secretary, T. Blyton, Esq., 

74, Navarino Road, Dalston, E. 
Cardiff Spiritual Society, Hon. Sec, Mr. A. J. Smart, 3, Guildford Street, Cardiff. 
Sociedad Espiritista (.Espanola, Cervantes 34, 28, Madrid. President, El Visconde de 

Torres-Solanot. 
Sociedad Espirita Central de la Republica Mexicana. President, Senor Refugio T. Gonzalez, 

7, Calle de Amedo, Mexico. 
Sociedad Espirita di Bogota, Colombia, South America. President, Senor Manuel 

Jose Angarita. 

For several years this Association has maintained its meetings, established 
a library, held soirees, investigating circles, and social gathings, with an 
amount of fidelity specially commendable in a movement so fluctuating as 
Spiritualism. Many internal changes have of course taken place, especially 
in its officers and directors. Many of its once prominent members have 
been removed by transition to a higher life ; others have been impelled to 
withdraw from personal motives, and still many eminent persons not 
enumerated in the first list, have become affiUated with the organization. 
So much influence for good however has been exerted by the persistent 
energy of its leaders, that we feel pleasure in adding a notice of the last 
change that has been effected in its arrangements. The excerpt we are 
about to subjoin was only published in May, 1882, and is taken from 
Light. 

The annexed report is the last announcement of the British National 
Association of Spiritualists under that name, the society being henceforth 
destined to be known as "The Central Association of Spiritualists." 

The article is headed : — 

" BRITISH NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS. 

" Annual Meeting. — The annual general meeting of this Association was held on 
Tuesday evening last, at 38, Great Russell Street, Mr. E. Dawson Rogers, vice-president, 
in the chair. The principal business of the meeting was to receive the annual report of 
the Council and statement of accounts, and to consider a recommendation involving a 
change in the name and constitution of the Association. The report was unanimously 
adopted, as was also a proposition in favour of the adoption of the name ' The Central 
Association of Spiritualists,' by which designation, therefore, the Association will hence- 
forth be known . The change, we think, is a wise one ; but after eight years' famiharity 
with the title of the ' B.N.A.S.,' we give it up with some regret." 

Then follows an elaborate report of the Council, by which it appears that 
the society is stiff in a ffourishing condition. The following items, however, 
may possess some interest to the reader, because they allude to the depart- 
ture of more than one honoured friend of the Spiritual cause, and give 
further particulars of the status of the association under its new designation 
in 1882. The report concludes thus : — 

" The following is a concise summary of the history of the Association since the last 
annual meeting : — 



1 86 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

'' Changes in the Membership. — Number of new members elected, 52 ; number of 
resignations 16. Deaths during the year — M. Leon Favre, Prof. Friedrich Zollner, Rev. 
Sir Wm. Dunbar, H. D. Jencken, M.R.I., Alex. Thorn, Mrs. Hook, A. E. Hunter, B.A. 
(Cantab). Present number of honorary and subscribing members, 294. 

"Allied Societies. — The Gateshead Society for the Investigation of Spiritualism, the 
South African Spiritual Evidence Society, and the Paris Psychological Society have allied 
themselves to the Association during the year, making a total number of sixteen in 
friendly union. 

"Work of the Association. — A series of Discussion and Social Meetings has been 
kept up through the season. Many of these have been highly interesting and successful. 

" Mr. T. P. Barkas, F.G.S., was appointed as a representative of the Association at 
the discussion on Spiritualism at the Church Congress held in October of last year. This 
discussion, and the extent to which the report of it was circulated, has done much to 
raise the position which the whole subject of Spiritualism occupies in the public mind. 

'' On the 5th and 6th of January last, conferences of an excedingly interesting 
character were held in the rooms of the Association, on the invitation of Professor Barrett, 
of Dublin. These conferences have resulted in the formation of a ' Society for Psychical 
Research,' which, while working to some extent on similar lines to those of the B.N.A.S., 
does not commit itself to a belief in Spiritualism, but aims at approaching the inquiry 
solely from a scientific standpoint. The Council feels that there is abundant room for 
such a society without in any way affecting the necessity for a Central Association 
avowedly for the investigation and propagation of Spiritualism. " 

The new organization alluded to in the last report sufficiently indicates 
its aims by its nomenclature — namely, " The Society for Psychical 
Research." 

The announcements put forth by this Society point to the Unes of de- 
marcation which separate it from any thoroughly pronounced Spiritual 
organizations ; in fact, the addresses of its President and Members on the 
occasion of its first general meeting, which took place in July, 1882, 
clearly show, that though Spiritualists may and do take part in its 
researches, a belief in Spirit communion is by no means the leading prin- 
ciple upon which the association is based. To illustrate this position still 
more forcibly, we append a note which the Society print in connection 
with their prospectus. It reads as follows : 

" To prevent misconception, it is here expressly stated that Membership of this Society 
does not imply the acceptance of any particular explanation of the phenomena investi- 
nated, nor any belief as to the operation, in the physical world, of forces other than those 
recognised by Physical Science." 

After publishing the list of eminent literary and scientific ladies and 
gentlemen who compose the officers and members of this association, the 
prospectus gives the following, which may present a satisfactory synopsis of 
the subjects of proposed research. 

" (1) Committee on Thought-reading ; Hon. Sec, Professor W. F. Barrett, 18, 

Belgrave Square, Monkstown, Dublin. 
"(2) Committee on Mesmerism : Hon. Sec, Dr. Wyld, 12, Great Cumberland Place, 

London, W. 
" (3) Committee on Reichenbach's Experiments ; Hon. Sec, '^Walter H. Coffin, Esq., 

Junior Athenseum Club, London, W. 
"(4) Comrnittee on Apparitions, Haunted Houses, &c. ; Hon. Sec, Hensleigh 

Wedgwood, Esq., 31, Queen Anne Street, London, W. 
" (5) Committee on Physical Phenomena ; Hon. Sec, Dr. C. Lockhart Robertson, 

Hamam Chambers, 76, Jermyn Street, S.W. 
" (6) Literary Committee, Hon, Sees., Edmund Gurney, Esq., 26, Montpelier Square, 

S.W. ; Frederic W, H. Myers, Esq., Leckhampton, Cambridge." 

Besides these well selected subjects for consideration, and the marked 
ability of the gentlemen who have consented to aid in their investigation, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 187 

the success of the undertaking is guaranteed by the high standing and 
hterary attainments of the parties under whose direction the work is 
announced to proceed. Any committee of investigators into psychic 
phenomena which includes the names of the subjoined officers and 
Council can scarcely fail to command the respect of the community at 
large and the sympathy of every earnest investigator into the subjects 
under consideration : — 

President. 

Henry Sidgwick, Esq., Trinity College, Cambridge. 

Vice-Presidents. 

Arthur J. Balfour, Esq., M.P., 4, Carlton Gardens, S,W. 

W. F. Barrett, Esq., F.R.S.E., 18, Belgrave Square, Monkstown, Dublin. 

John R. Holland, Esq., M.P., 57, Lancaster Gate, London, W. 

Richard H. Hutcon, Esq., Englefield Green, Staines. 

Rev. W. Stainton-Moses, M.A., 21, Birchington Road, London, N.W. 

Hon. Roden Noel, 57, Anerley Park, London, S.E. 

Professor Balfour Stewart, F.R.S., Owens College, Manchester. 

Hensleigh Wedgwood, Esq., 31, Queen Anne Street, London, W. 

Council. 

W. P. Barrett, 18, Belgrave Square, Monkstown, Dublin. 

Edward T. Bennett, 8, The Green, Richmond, near London. 

Mrs. Boole, 103, Seymour Place, Bryanston Square, London, W. 

Walter R. Browne, 38, Belgrave Road, London, S.W. 

Alexander Calder, 1, Hereford Square, South Kensington, London, S.W. 

Walter H. Coffin, Junior Athenaeum Club, London, W. 

Desmond G. FitzGerald, 6, Akerman Road, Brixton, S.W. 

Edmund Gurney, 26, Montpelier Square, London, S.W. 

Charles C. Massey, 1, Albert Mansions, Victoria Street, London, S.W. 

Frederic W. H. Myers, Leckhampton, Cambridge. 

Francis W. Pereival, 28, Savile Row, London, W. 

Frank Podmore, 16, Southampton Street, Fitzroy Square, London. S.W. 

C. Lockhart Robertson, M.D., Hamam Chambers, 76, Jermyn Street, S.W. 

E. Dawson Rogers, Rose Villa, Church End, Finchley, N. 

Rev. W. Stainton-Moses, 21, Birchington Road, London, N.W. 

Morell Theobald, 62, Granville Park, Blackheath, S.E. 

Hensleigh Wedgwood, 31, Queen Anne Street, London, W. 

G. Wyld, M.D., 19, Great Cumberland Place, London, W. 

Many other associations besides those already named have been formed 
with kindred aims. Some have maintained a more or less permanent 
existence — but whether they still survive or have passed out of being, 
all have achieved some use as temporary levers in the spiritual progress of 
the race. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED). 

Spiritualism and the London Dialectical Society. 

It now becomes necessary to give a brief account of a movement which 
has exerted a marked influence over the progress of SpirituaHsm in Great 
Britain, namely, the investigations and pubhshed report of " The London 
Dialectical Society," the action of which in connection with Spiritualism 
arose thus. In January of the year 1869, an association composed of 
ladies and gentlemen distinguished for their literary and scientific attain- 
ments, entitled "The Dialectical Society," determined to investigate the 
subject of modern Spiritualism. 

The minute of the proceedings which inaugurated this investigation 
reads in their published report as follows : — 

"At a meeting of the London Dialectical Society, held 6th of January, 1869, Mr. J. 
H. Levy in the chair, it was resolved, — ' That the Council be requested to appoint a 
Committee to investigate the phenomena alleged to be Spiritual manifestations, and to 
report thereon.' " 

In consequence of this resolution, the members issued a circular couched 
in courteous terms, inviting the leading Spiritualists of England to assist 
them by personal or written testimony in the investigations they proposed 
to pursue. 

One of the first respondents to the call issued by the Council was the 
author of this work, who happened at that time to be in England, and who, 
in company with J, C, Luxmoore, Esq., of Gloucester Square, Mr. and Mrs. 
Everitt, and a few other Spiritualistic friends, waited on the Society at a 
meeting appointed for that purpose on the evening of March i6th, 1869. 
After offering such testimony as she felt to be apposite to the place and 
time, Mrs. Hardinge gave a long address upon the main features of the 
Spiritualistic movement, the characteristics of Mediumship, the Spirit 
circle, and the difficulties which beset the path of the investigator, all 
of which will be found duly recorded in the printed report of the Society, 
The address closed with a strong recommendation to the Society to con- 
duct their investigations, not in general sessions of the whole body, but to 
form themselves into groups or sub-committees, of from four to eight, or at 
most ten persons ; selecting the members of these groups on the principle 
of mutual goodwill, or such cordial relations with each other, as would be 
most likely to produce harmony of feeling, and psychological equilibrium. 

In answer to various queries propounded by members of the Committee 
at this stage of the proceedings, Mrs. Hardinge described in detail the 
best and most approved methods of forming circles, founding her advice 
not on her own opinions, but on the well proved experiences of the 
Spiritualists with whom she had been associated for many years. 

During the entire course of this address, which was occasionally inter- 
rupted by appropriate questions, listened to with deep attention, and 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 189 

responded to by a cordial vote of thanks, the Spirits, or invisible audience 
present, availed themselves of the Mediumship of Mrs. Everitt, who was 
one of the party, to emphasize the entire speech with loud clear raps which 
resounded in unmistakable cadence to every sentence, on the uncovered 
library table, at which the Committee were seated. 

Both Mrs. Everitt and the speaker were too far from the table to give 
rise to the supposition that they had any agency in producing the sounds, 
yet these manifested an intelligence which was so unmistakable that it must 
have appeared astounding to the sceptics present. On some occasions, the 
invisibles emphasized the utterances with the customary signals for " yes " 
and "no," joining in most vociferously with the applause, and taking part 
throughout the proceedings with a force, spontaneity, and independence, 
which was as amusing to the Spiritualists as it was startling and unexpected 
to the rest of the party. 

After the official work of the evening was ended, the company amused 
themselves for some time by questioning the invisible rapper, and though 
the meeting did not in any way assume the form of a seance, or commit 
itself by making any report of this informal action of their invisible atten- 
dants, the curious proceedings obviously made a deep impression upon 
some of those present, whilst it called forth from others that involuntary 
spirit of denial, which would rather discredit the testimony even of the 
senses than recede from the standard of obstinate and preconceived opinions. 

It is more than probable that out of the large number of circulars which 
were sent to other well-known Spiritualists besides Mrs. Hardinge, not one 
failed to produce a response of more or less interest to the investigators. 

Amongst those respondents whose names will be found in the Society's 
published report, and who attended in person, to give oral evidence of their 
faith, are the following persons : — Mrs. Emma Hardinge, Mr. H. D. 
Jencken, M.R.1. 3 Mrs. Honeywood, Mr. T. M. Simkiss, Mr. E. Laman 
Blanchard, Mr. J. Murray Spear, Mr. Benjamin Coleman, Mr. George 
Childs, artist; Mr. J. Enmore Jones, Miss Alice Jones, Miss Douglass, 
Lord Borthwick, Mr. James Burns, Mr. Thomas Sherratt, Professor Crom- 
well F. Varley, Miss Houghton, Mr. Thomas Shorter, Mr. Manuel Eyre, 
Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Hockley, Mr. D. D. Home, Mrs. Cox, Signer Damiani, 
Lord Lindsay, Mr. Chevalier, Mr. Percival, Miss Anna Black well, &c., &c. 

Letters .in response to the Society's circular were received from — Mr. 
George H. Lewes, Mr. Wm, Wilkinson, solicitor ; Dr. Garth Wilkinson, 
M.D. ; Dr. Davey, Dr. J. Dixon, Mr. Wm. Howitt, Lord Lytton, Mr. 
Newton Crosland, Mr. Robert Chambers, Dr. Lockhart Robertson, Dr. 
Charles Kidd, Mr, Edwin Arnold, Mr. J. Hawkins Simpson, Mr. A. 
Glendinning, Mr. T. A. TroUope, M. Leon Favre, Mrs. L. Lewis, The 
Countess (now Duchesse) de Pomar, M. Camille Flammarion, &c., &c., &c. 

Papers also, though of an antagonistic character, were received and 
published from Profs. Huxley and Tyndall, Dr. Carpenter, Mr. Bradlaugh, 
and others. 

It would be impossible without giving the substance of a volume of some 
400 pages published by the Dialectical Society as their ultimate report, to 
convey to the reader the least idea of the candour and zeal with which this 
investigation was pursued, nor the vast sum of testimony which resulted 
from it; in short, without any such intention on the part of its authors, the 
Dialectical Society's report forms one of the best collections of test facts and 
irrefragible testimony in favour of the Spiritual hypothesis, that has yet 
issued from the nineteenth-century press. 



I90 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

It seems that the General Committee, acting on the suggestions before 
named, organized themselves into six groups or sub-committees, at which 
Mr. Home and other well-known Mediums lent valuable assistance, whilst 
on many occasions, phenomena of a very convincing character were 
evolved, no recognised Medium being present. The reports of the Sub- 
Committees in fact, when read and candidly considered in detail, are fully 
sufficient to establish the fact of an unknown super-sensuous and intelligetit 
power communicating with mortals both by physical and intellectual modes, 
and that without atiy additional testimony from any other sources T 

"The Dialectical Society's Report on Spiritualism," was first published 
by the Society, and subsequently reprinted (by permission) with additional 
matter, by Mr. Jas. Burns, 15, Southampton Row, Holborn, London, 
where the curious reader can obtain it. Meantime, the following excerpts 
from the introductory portion of the work will be perused with interest. 

The General Council of the Sub-Committee, addressing the Society at 
large, report as follows : — 

" Your Committee have held fifteen meetings at which they received evidence from 
thirty-three persons who described phenomena which they stated had occurred within 
their own personal experience. 

' Your Committee have received written statements relating to the phenomena from 
thirty-one persons. 

" Your Committee invited the attendance, and requested the co-operation and advice 
of scientific men who had pubhcly expressed opinions favourable or adverse to the 
genuineness of the phenomena. 

" Your Committee also specially invited the attendance of persons who had publicly 
ascribed the phenomena to imposture or delusion. 

" Your Committee however, while successful in procuring the evidence of believers in 
the phenomena and their supernatural origin, almost wholly failed to obtain evidence 
from those who attributed them to fraud or delusion. 

"As it appeared to your Committee to be of the greatest importance that they should 
investigate the phenomena in question by personal experiment and test, they resolved 
themselves into sub-committees as the best means of doing so. 

" Six sub-committees were accordingly formed. 

" All of these have sent in reports from which it appears that a large majority of the 
members of your Committee have become actual vsdtnesses to several phases of the 
phenomena, without the aid or presence of any professional medium, although the greater 
part of them commenced their investigations in an avowedly sceptical spirit. 

" These reports hereto subjoined, substantially corroborate each other, and would 
appear to establish the following propositions :— 

" 1. That sounds of a very varied character, apparently proceeding from articles of 
furniture, the floor and walls of the room — the vibrations of which are often distinctly 
perceptible to the touch — occur, without being produced by muscular action or mechani- 
cal contrivance. 

" 2. That movements of heavy bodies take place without mechanical contrivance of 
any kind or adequate exertion of muscular force by the persons present, and frequently 
without contact or connection with any person. 

" 3. That these sounds and movements often occur at the times, and in the manner 
asked for by persons present, and by means of a simple code of signals, answer questions 
and spell out coherent communications. 

" 4. That the answers and communications thus obtained are for the most part of a 
commonplace character ; but facts are sometimes correctly given which are known to one 
of the persons present. 

" 5. That the circumstances imder which the phenomena occur are variable — the 
most prominent fact being, that the presence of certain persons seems necessary to their 
occurrence, and that of others, generally adverse — but this difference does not appear to 
depend upon any belief or disbelief concerning the phenomena. 

" 6. That nevertheless the occurrence of the phenomena is not induced by the presence 
or absence of such persons respectively." 

Thus far the sub-committees' personal experiences alone are touched 
upon. The report next proceeds to deal with the testimony of the various 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 191 

witnesses who, orally or by written statements — received as indisputable, in 
view of the character and standing of the deponents — gave in a vast mass of 
testimony from which the following numbered extracts are selected : — 

" 1. Thirteen witnesses state that they have seen heavy bodies — in some instances 
men — rise in the air, and remain there for some time vsrithout visible support. 

" 2. Fourteen witnesses testify to having seen hands or figures not appertaining to any 
human being, but life-like in appearance and mobility, which they have sometimes touched 
or even grasped and which they were therefore convinced were not the result of illusion 
or imposture. . . 

" 4. Thirteen witnesses declare they have heard musical pieces well played upon 
instruments not manipulated by any ascertainable agency. 

" 5. Five witnesses state that they have seen red-hot coals applied to the hands or 
heads of several persons present without producing pain or scorching, and three witnesses 
state that they have had the same experiment made upon themselves v?ith the like 
immunity. 

" 6. Eight witnesses declare that they have received precise information through 
rappings, writings, and in other ways, the accuracy of which was unknown at the time to 
themselves or any persons present, and which on subsequent enquiry was found to be 
correct." 

" 9. Six witnesses declare they have received information of future events, and that in 
some cases the hour and minute of their occurrence have been accurately foretold, even 
days and weeks before." 

In addition to the above, evidence was given of gratuitously false 
statements alleged to come from spirits ; of spirit drawings produced under 
conditions which rendered " human agency impossible," also of " trance 
speaking, healing, automatic writing, the introduction of flowers and fruit 
into closed rooms ; of voices in the air, visions in crystals and glasses, and 
the elongation of the human body. 

After a careful and almost exhuastive review of the whole subject, 
notices of the literature, and the various hypotheses put forth by way of 
attempted explanation, the preliminary report of the General Committee 
concludes with the following remarks : — 

" In presenting their report, your Committee, taking into consideration the high 
character and great intelligence of many of the witnesses to the more extraordinary facts, 
the extent to which their testimony is supported by the reports of the sub- committees, 
and the absence of any proof of imposture or delusion as regards a large portion of the 
phenomena ; and further, having regard to the exceptional character of the phenomena, 
and the large number of persons of every grade of society and over the whole civiUsed 
world who are more or less influenced by a belief in their supernatural origin, and to the 
fact that no philosophical exj^lanation of them has yet been arrived at, deem it incum- 
bent upon them to state their conviction that the subject is worthy of more serious 
attention and careful investigation than it has hitherto received." 

With a recommendation that the entire report together with the detailed 
reports of the Sub-Committees should be printed, here concludes one of the 
most remarkable, candid, and noteworthy summaries of a series of investi- 
gations into the phenomena of modern Spiritualism that the records of 
that movement can display. 

The very popularity of "the cause," the many honourable and distinguished 
patrons which it had attracted to its ranks, and the possibility of making 
easy profits by simulating its phenomena, have doubtless been the super- 
inducing motives which have caused such a vast flood of imposture, fraud 
and pretension to disgrace its honoured name, si7ice the Dialectical Society 
issued their report Still that volume remains, and the high character of 



192 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

those who constituted the witnesses, their entire disinterestedness and 
freedom from bias or motive to pervert the truth, and the care, caution, 
and indefatigable energy with which the research was pursued, will out- 
weigh with the capable thinker the adverse witness of determined prejudice, 
or even the soil of ten thousand impure and fraudulent hands laid upon the 
fair form revealed by the investigations of this brave band of truth seekers. 
It is only to be regretted that the report of the Dialectical Society has not 
attained to a far wider circulation than it has hitherto enjoyed — still more 
that other associations composed of individuals as authoritative in name 
and place, as capable of judging righdy, and as faithful in seeking for and 
sifting evidence, have not followed so laudable an example, and by thus 
formulating and publishing abroad all that was found valuable and important 
in the movement, they would have tended to repress the atrocious licence, 
absurd fanaticism, and audacious frauds, that have been foisted upon the 
name and fame of modern Spiritualism. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED.) 

It must not be supposed that the course of Spiritualism in Great Britain 
moved on to the achievement of its many conquests over materialism and 
unbelief, without battles to fight, and obstacles to overcome. Besides the 
persistent opposition directed against this movement from the enemies who 
may be classified as the would-be monopolists of all knowledge, in religion, 
science, and literature, many and injurious have been "the foes of its own 
household," with which Spiritualism has had to contend. 

Whether excessive vanity or mercenary motives have been the causes 
which induced certain individuals, professing to be Mediums for Spiritual 
phenomena, to supplement the lack of natural endowments by artifice, it 
matters not now to enquire; but it is an assured fact, that few well-informed 
Spiritualists would venture to deny, that many manifestations have been 
exhibited, both by private and professional Media, more or less garbled by 
fraud, and interpolated by human contrivance. 

As our work is understood to record what Spiritualism is, not what it is 
not, we do not feel called upon to dilate farther on the performances of 
tricksters than to note the fact of their interference, and the injurious effect 
they have had upon the progress of the Spiritual cause. 

It must suffice to say, that Spiritualism, like every other movement in 
human life worth counterfeiting, has had to endure its share of hindrance 
and disgrace from the camp followers who are ever found in the wake of 
the armies of progression. 

We know it is constantly alleged by detected impostors, that the frauds 
they can no longer conceal, were undertaken, " under the influence of evil 
spirits" generally those, who were attracted to the circle by some evil- 
minded sceptic. As to themselves — poor innocents ! — they were wholly 
unconscious, and should be regarded merely as victims, not as offenders. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 193 

To account for the prepared paraphernalia with which their frauds were 
perpetrated, they generally fall back upon the theory of conspiracies to ruin 
them, amongst the very sitters whom they have attempted to cheat, 
&c., &c. To expla7iations of this character, alike insulting to common 
sense, and common honesty, no answer can be made. Unfortunately how- 
ever, the heartless impostors who have no scruple in robbing their victims, 
and imposing on the holiest emotions of the heart, generally find hosts of 
apologists, who not only seek to excuse their turpitude by the miserable 
platitudes suggested above, but follow up the detection, with torrents of 
abuse against those who will not tamely submit to be imposed upon. 

" Hard words break no bones," says the Spanish proverb. That may be 
true, nevertheless they are exceedingly hurtful to the feelings, and hence it 
is, that many an audacious cheat has been permitted to perpetrate his foul 
work unrebuked, for fear of the clamorous attacks with which the exposer 
is sure to be met by ill-judged partisanship, or fanatical credulity. 

True Mediums, whether professional or otherwise, deserve the most kind 
consideration and courteous treatment ; but that is a poor rule which does 
not apply both ways, and therefore the same consideration and courtesy is 
due to the investigator, especially when it is remembered that such investi- 
gations are generally made under the impulse of the most sacred affections, 
and therefore deserve to be treated with reverence and respect. 

Still the effect of detected imposture has been most injurious to the pro- 
gress of Spiritualism, and though its publicity may have served the purpose 
of stimulating the investigator to more caution in his researches, it has 
turned back many an one from seeking divine truth, in a path bristling with 
the way marks of deceit and lies. 

Other causes too, conspired to produce reactionary tides in public opinion, 
unfavourable to Spiritualism. 

Mr. Sothern, a popular actor, who under the alias of " Stuart," had once 
been the conductor of the well-known " miracle-circle" of New York, thought 
proper to amuse his English associates by contriving all sorts of caricature 
performances calculated to bring ridicule and discredit upon Spiritualism, 

Mr. Benjamin Coleman in his zeal for the cause he espoused, in exposing 
Mr. Sothern's performances, unfortunately republished certain statements 
copied from the New York papers, which gave the pretext for a prosecu- 
tion on the ground of libel. A trial ensued. The well-known aphorism 
that "truth is a libel" obtained with unmistakable force in this case, and 
Mr. Coleman and his publisher, the editor of the paper called The 
Spiritual Times, were mulcted in heavy damages. 

It is worth while in this connection to give a curious episode which may 
not be unimportant in weighing the statements of those, who — because 
they find fraud in one direction — pass a wholesale verdict of condemnation 
against the reliability of all phenomena. 

A report has often gained currency, that there was somewhere, though 
rumour never condescended to be expUcit on the actual whereabouts, a 
mechanic who had been employed to manufacture apparatus by which a 
machine, concealed about the person, could produce the phenomena known 
as "Spirit rapping.*' 

More than one of the antagonists to Spiritualism have made allusion to 
this floating rumour, treating it as a well proven fact, and alleging that it 
fully explained the entire formulae of the (assumed Spiritual) rappings. 

Now these allegations have always been made with an amount of 
indefiniteness which has deprived them of credit, whether with the advocates 
13 



194 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

or opponents of Spiritualism. For the benefit of both classes, we shall 
now proceed to give the floating rumour a clear and legitimate 
parentage. 

During the investigations of the Dialectical Society, there was a general 
flutter of opinion on the part of the antagonists to Spiritualism lest those 
who were heretofore sceptics, might prove too much and not improbably 
become themselves converted. 

In this direful contingency some one (whom this record does not care to 
immortalize) procured the attendance before the Dialectical Society's 
Council, of one Mr. William Faulkner, of Endell Street, London, who gave 
evidence in respect to certain magnets which he claimed to have manu- 
factured, by means of which " artificial raps could be produced," whilst the 
magnets were concealed about the person of "the Medium," 

Being closely plied with questions by the Spiritualists present, this gentle- 
man was unable to show that he had ever supplied these magnets to a single 
Medium known to any one in the Spiritual ranks save a Mr. Addison, the 
accomplice of Mr. Sothern, and the gentleman at whose residence all the 
tricks were performed, which Mr. Coleman exposed. 

It must be remembered that Messrs. Sothern and Addison made it their 
business to bring Spiritualism into ridicule and contempt by first pretend- 
ing to produce phenomena and then showing that it was only the result of 
trickery and deception. It was in aid of this notable work that Mr. 
Faulkner's magnets were manufactured, and in this way that Mr. Faulkner's 
testimony was expected to bring discredit on the entire mass of Spiritual 
phenomena ; in a word, those who contrived to cite this person, before the 
Dialectical Society's Council, evidently meant to show that because Mr. 
Addison's house was fitted up with artificial magnets designed to deceive 
the unwary and bring SpirituaHsm into ridicule, so' all "Spirit rappings," 
whether occurring in the palaces of emperors and princes, or the homes 
of clowns and harlequins, must be produced by magnets manufactured by 
Mr. Faulkner, of Endell Street, London ! 

Comment upon this very flimsy attempt to destroy a world-wide truth 
with a harlequin's bat and ball is unnecessary; in short, a subject so justly 
relegated to oblivion would not be recalled at this time, were it not desirable 
to observe, to what desperate and puerile methods of warfare, the opponents 
of this great cause have been driven. 

Shortly after the Coleman prosecution, -another of a still more complex 
and damaging character arose, in connection with Mr. D. D. Home, and 
an old lady by the name of Lyon. 

Although the details of this case may be fresh in the memory of readers 
of the present generation it is necessary, for the benefit of posterity, to give 
the following brief abstract of its salient points. 

It seems that Mrs. Lyon, an eccentric old lady, took a sudden and violent 
fancy to Mr. D. D. Home, and being a widow with a large fortune at her 
own disposal, she induced the young Medium to become her adopted son 
and heir. Settlements were made, and Mr. Home's name was changed to 
Lyon, by a formal parliamentary act. 

For a time all seemed to promise well for the future happmess of the 
contracting parties. At length however, the lady grew exacting, the 
adopted son restive ; she wearied of her fancy, he of his gilded chains. 
Disputes arose ; then estrangement, and th& finale was, a demand on the 
part of the lady, for release from all her promises, and an immediate 
restitution of the gifts she had bestowed on the creature of her whim. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 195 

Unfortunately for Mr, Home, the last-named demand implied an impossi- 
bility with which he could not comply. Failing to obtain her exorbitant 
demands, the whilom tender mother had the son arrested, and then 
commenced a vigorous prosecution against him for the restitution of all 
the gifts she had bestowed, on the plea, that Mr. Home had worked upon 
her feelings, and induced her to consent to the act of adoption by 
;pretended Spiritual manifestations. 

A long trial ensued, in the published reports of which, not one tittle of 
evidence could be adduced in support of the lady's allegation ; on the 
contrary, her witnesses discredited and contradicted each other, and her own 
testimony was so silly and unsupported, that the judge was frequently obliged 
to advise her to be silent, as " her statements were too contradictory to be 
accepted." On the other hand it was shown by an immense number of 
the most respectable witnesses, that Mr. Home yielded to this lady's offers 
slowly 'and reluctantly, and that he even sent his friend and legal adviser 
Mr. William Wilkinson to call on her ; to place before her the magnitude of 
her undertaking, and beseech her to take time and good counsel, before 
consummating her hasty proposal. 

During the entire progress of this protracted trial, the balance of evidence 
was all on the side of the unfortunate Medium, and judging purely by the 
testimony adduced, not a doubt existed in the pubhc mind, that Mr. Home 
would be honourable acquitted, and the prosecution anything but honour- 
ably quashed. 

But great are the uncertainties of the law ! Mr. Home was found guilty 
of exerting undue influence over the mind of an innocent aged lady, and 
ordered to give back all that he could restore, and so the matter was 
supposed to end. End there however it did not. So long as the details 
of the case were fresh in the public mind, Mr. Home was regarded as the 
victim of a very unjust verdict, whilst Mrs. Lyon was regarded as very 
much more of a wolf in sheep's clothing, than as the representative of her 
kingly name When the real facts at issue slipped out of the versatile 
memory of " the dear public " however, and ancient prejudice was permitted 
to re-assume her sway, the Spiritualists were constantly reproached with 
the acts of " that wicked Mr. Home," and the wrongs of that amiable and 
truthful old lady, Mrs. Lyon. Nay, the author in her wide wanderings over 
the world has frequently been reminded "how that dreadful Mr. Home 
had been imprisoned for life, for plundering and imposing upon his bene- 
factress,, and how that dreadful delusion of Spiritualism was all exploded 
in consequ^ence." It was of no avail to urge that Mr. Home was at that 
very time the honoured guest of the Emperor of Russia, and Spiritualism 
exerting more power and influence over the masses than ever. The 
slanderers " knew all about it," for did not every one " say so," and was it 
not enough that it was testified of by the authoritative tongue of common 
report ? 

At a still later date, other trials and other convictions occurred, and in 
more than one instance frauds and adventurers received their deserts, and 
suffered penalties which Spiritualists were as ready to pronounce well 
merited as were their opponents. Still the result of any judicial trials in 
which Spiritualism was concerned, invariably ended unfavourably for the 
cause, whatever the merits of the case might be. 

It is not to be wondered at then, that antagonistic individuals availed 
themselves of this mockery of justice in connection with an unpopular 
movement, and scrupled not to call in the aid of the law to punish the 
believers whose faith they could not change. 



196 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Whatever the present generation may allege, posterity will surely reahze 
that it was the prevalence of an unjust and bigoted public sentiment, and 
the certainty that the law would uphold that sentiment, which stimulated 
the vexatious prosecution that was quite recently instituted against the 
celebrated American Medium, Mr. Henry Slade, who, during a brief visit 
to this country en route to fulfil an engagement in Russia, was becoming 
all too popular with the visitors whom his limited time permitted him 
to receive. 

It was no doubt in view of this "perversion of public feeling" and "in 
the highest interests of moraUty and religion " that two self-styled scientific 
gentlemen called on the American Medium, and aftef endeavouring in 
every possible way to entrap him into some suspicious act, they openly 
accused him of fraud, caused his arrest and entered upon a vigorous and 
relentless prosecution against him. 

Again the details of the trial were utterly barren of proof that the 
charge was true. Except that the prosecution could not account for the 
phenomena produced, and therefore trumped up an imaginary and totally 
impractical hypothesis as to how it anight or must have been done, there 
was not a shadow of evidence to prove fraud on the part of the 
Medium. 

For the defence, a large number of distinguished and respectable persons 
tendered their witness in favour of Slade's honesty, and the unmistakable 
character of the supra-mundane phenomena occurring in his presence. 
Only four of these favourable witnesses were allowed to testify, one of them 
being the celebrated author and naturalist, Professor A. R. Wallace, 
Notwithstanding the fact that the magistrate before whom the case was 
tried, was obliged to acknowledge that the evidence in Slade's favour " was 
overwhelming," after a most " Dogberry " like summing up, he sentenced 
Mr. Slade "under the fourth section of the Vagrant Act," to three months' 
imprisonment with hard labour, ''''for using subtile crafts and devices by 
palmistry or otherwise to deceive^'' Sic, &c. This notable conviction was 
soon after " quashed" on appeal to the Middlesex Sessions, for a formal 
error in the conviction. 

But the enemy was not to be deprived of his "pound of flesh." "In 
the interests of science " — as the prosecutors alleged — they commenced a 
fresh attack, and although the victim of this pitiful warfare — broken down 
in health and spirits by the cruel persecution directed against him — 
insisted upon meeting whatever further proceedings might be taken, his 
medical attendant declared that "any further attempt to face the storm 
would kill him outright," and his numerous friends and supporters absolutely 
forced him to proceed on his way to the Continent, to meet the engagement 
for which he had come to Europe. 

It is but justice to add, that when Mr. Slade's health became sufficiently 
restored, he wrote to one of his scientific accusers, offering to return to 
England at his own expense, to give him six seances at any place he might 
choose, under any reasonable conditions he might dictate, entirely free of 
charge and for the purpose of proving the absence of fraud on his part. 
This letter, long, clear, and manly as it was, the scientific and gentleman- 
like accuser doubdess deemed it " in the interests of science " utterly to 
disregard, even by a single word of reply. The unprejudiced reader may 
satisfy himself concerning the entire candour and honesty of this letter by 
perusing it on page 36 of Professor ZoUner's work, " Transcendental 
Physics." 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 197 

It might be worth while to compare the facts thus briefly summarized, 
from already published accounts, with " the lying tongue of rumour," from 
which source the author has frequently heard, that "Slade had been caught 
in the act of trickmg a party of celebrated professors ; tried, condemned, 
imprisoned, and that hence, the monstrous delusion of Spiritualism was all 
exposed and for ever exploded ! " 

For the rest of Mr. Slade's Continental experiences the reader is referred 
to the section on " Spiritualism in Germany," and the report of his seances 
with the Leipzig professors. 

It only remains to notice one more result of the prosecution, or more 
strictly speaking, the persecution., to which Mr. Slade was subject, and this 
was, the circulation of a memorial to the British Home Secretary, a few 
extracts from which will close this chapter. 

The Spiritualists of Great Britain probably never expected any other 
official result from their memorial than a silent smile of contempt from the 
party whose duty it would be to consign it to the Governmental waste 
basket — nevertheless they felt that its distribution would serve the purpose 
of registering the Spiritualists' version of their case, and give the too-trusting 
public to understand that the Bow Street magistrate's unfavourable verdict, 
had not yet become the funeral sermon of Spirituahsm, also that this 
irrepressible cause still maintained a vigorous state of being, in which new 
conversions were effected with each succeeding day and hour. 

The Religio PhilosopJiical Journal., an old established and excellent 
Spiritual periodical published at Chicago, U.S., reprinted the above-named 
memorial, the main points of which, together with the editor's comments, 
we give in the following extract : — 

" The British National Association of Spiritualists has prepared, and is circulating a 
memorial to the Home Secretary of the British Government, asking that the construction 
heretofore put upon an Act for the Suppression of Vagrancy, whereby it is made a means 
of maintaining criminal pi-osecution against Mediums, may be corrected. The fourth 
section of the act classes as vagrants, ' Every person pretending or professing to tell for- 
tunes, or using any subtle craft, means or device by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive or 
impose upon any of his majesty's subjects.' It was under this clause that Henry Slade 
was prosecuted, and concerning his prosecution the memorial says : 

" ' As an instance in point your memorialists would refer to the case of Henry Slade, 
an American Medium, charged at Bow Street Police Court in the year ] 876, under the 
fourth section of the said Act. For the defence the magistrate allowed to be called as 
vritnesses four gentlemen, one of them of great scientific eminence, who were experts in 
the investigation of Spiritualism, and who had especially tested the Mediumship of the 
defendant on many occasions. These gentlemen gave evidence of facts wholly inconsistent 
with the supposition that the defendant was an impostor — evidence which the magistrate 
himself declared from the bench to be " overwhelming." In attendance were other 
witnesses prepared to give similar testimony. Yet the magistrate refused to allow them 
to be called : and, in giving judgment against the defendant, he avowedly put the evi- 
dence, which he had described as above, altogether out of consideration, expressly declar- 
ing that he based his decision " according to the known course of nature." The law, it is 
true, does not expressly sanction any presumption against the existence of agencies in 
nature other than and surpassing those generally known^ — and these it is, and not 
" miraculous " or " supernatural " powers that Spiritualists allege — but the persons who 
administer the law are unavoidably bounded by this common knowledge in dealing with 
evidence and the probabilities arising therefrom. It results then, that the magistrate who 
adjudicates "according to the known course of nature " in respect to phenomena which do 
not conform to such " known course " as interpreted by him, finds it practically unneces- 
sary to hear evidence beyond the mere proof of the alleged occurrence of the phenomena 
in question in the presence of a certain individual, when no other person also present can 
be taken to have produced them. The case is therefore prejudged ; and the examination 
of witnesses to prove that any alleged act of imposture was not really of that character 
is a superfluous mockery and pretence. It is upon this fact that no tribunal, without 



198 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

going into an exhaustive and impracticable inquiry upon an unfamiliar subject, can do 
other than take its own knowledge and experience as the standard of probability, that 
your memorialists chiefly rest their statement of the unavoidable injustice and prejudicial 
character of these prosecutions.' " 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUED), 

Concerning the Literature of English Spiritualism. 

The first periodical issued in England in connection with the subject of 
Spiritualism was The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph. When seeking for 
authentic information on this pioneer work, the author was referred to the 
following article which appeared in the year 1882 in the columns oi Light; 
and its perusal will perhaps give a better idea than could otherwise be 
obtained of the regard with which the promoter of this periodical is still 
remembered : — 

" keighley, 

" An event, unique in character, has recently transpired in this cosy little Yorkshire 
town, which wHl long be remembered with pleasure by all concerned, marking as it did 
the thirtieth anniversary of the introduction of Sjiiritualism into this country. The 
celebration, for such in character was the event alluded to, was' conceived and executed 
by the committee and friends of the Keighley ' Spiritual Brotherhood,' Mr. John Pickles, 
the chairman, working energetically to that end, and being ably assisted by Mr. J. Smith, 
the hon. secretary. Indeed, so earnestly did all work that a most successful issue was 
achieved. The proceedings consisted of a public tea and meeting on Saturday, July 8th. 
The objects the committee had in view were the presentation of the portraits of the three 
pioneer workers in the movement, viz., Messrs. John Wright, Abraham Shackleton, and 
David Weatherhead ; the two first-named persons, and the family of the last-named 
gentleman, who has passed hence, being the recipients of the gifts. In 1853 Mr. David 
Eichmond, from the Shakers, of America, brought the particulars of Spirit phenomena 
with him to this country, and, paying a visit to Keighley, called upon Mr. David Weather- 
head to present the matter to the attention of that gentleman. As a result of the 
interview, a public meeting was held, at which table manifestations were obtained, thro' gh 
mediums discovered in the audience, by Mr. Richmond, who delivered an explanatory 
address. Mr. Weatherhead became convinced of the truth of Spirit intercourse, and at 
once entered heartily into the matter, sparing neither time, pains, nor purse in his zeal. 
He established the first printing press in the movement, printed the first English Spiritual 
periodical, the Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph, and caused the circulation of innumerable 
tracts, pamphlets, &c., throughout the kingdom, and subsequently erected, at his own 
expense, the comfortable and commodious building used by the society at the present 
time. He contentedly bore all the expenses involved, and during his residence in the 
flesh was a true pillar of the cause. Messrs. Wright and Shackleton were the two trance 
mediums developed in the early days ; they have literally grown grey in the work. Their 
labours have been free of price, and as speakers, healers, and clairvoyants they have 
rendered valuable service to the cause. To do honour to these workers, and to express 
the high esteem in which they were held, the recent presentation was arranged. 
On Saturday the proceedings were opened by a tea, at which a very large company sat 
down. At seven o'clock the pubhc meeting was opened by the chairman, Mr. J. Clapham, 
who said : ' Ladies and gentlemen, we are met here to-night to show our gratitude to the 
late Mr. Weatherhead, and also to Mr. Shackleton and Mr. Wright, for their past services. 
Keighley was the place where Spiritualism was first promulgated in this country, being 
introduced to us by Mr. David Richmond, of Darlington, who, with the assistance of Mr. 




\/—a-u^ 



' ^rm^ <fa^-tf^ 




NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



199 



Weafcherhead, was enabled to deliver three lectures upon the subject in the Working 
Men's Hall, in June, 1853. The issues were, that Mr. Weatherhead took steps which 
resulted in the formation of the society which exists at the present time ; and soon after- 
wards the mediums named were developed, and they are still serving us to-day. These 
gentlemen, with Mr. Weatherhead, were the mainstays of the cause, and Mr. Weatherhead, 
during his life here, spared neither time nor means in spreading abroad this grand truth. 
It was he who established the first printing press, and distributed tracts, pamphlets, and 
other literature broadcast, the materials for which were largely obtained through medium- 
ship. He it was who bore the entire expense of the erection of the Lyceum Buildings, 
and in many other ways testified his earnestness and devotion to the cause. The outcome 
of his labours has been that to-day we have here a society in a flourishing condition, 
having one hundred and fifty members on the roll, some five or six active mediums 
constantly ministering to us, and a Sunday School composed of upwards of a hundred 
members. As, therefore, a slight mark of esteem and appreciation to these our pioneer 
workers, we are to-night to present to them the portraits before us, and all will join with 
me in saying they are most heartily deserved.' The portraits, in oils, which are excellent 
specimens of the painter's art, were then presented. That to Mr. Wright was presented 
by Mr. John Scott, of Belfast ; that to Mr. Shackleton by Mr. D. Richmond, of Darlington ; 
and that of Mr. Weatherhead to his family, by Mr. J. J. Morse, of London ; and suitable 
acknowledgments were made in each case. The proceedings were varied by some excellent 
singing and reciting by a glee party and several friends, and altogether the event was 
marked by a hearty enthusiasm which evidenced the full sympathy of all present in the 
event of the day. 

" The series of meetings were held in the large Auction Hall of Mr. William Weather- 
head, who very kindly placed it at the disposal of the society free of cost. The above 
events will be long remembered by all present, and constitute an occasion that will be 
historical in its relations to the progress of Spiritualism in Great Britain." 

None but the pioneer of an unpopular cause can understand the value of 
the good work effected by Mr. David Weatherhead^ or the amount of 
martyrdom he must have incurred in its performance. 

In his time, the publication of a Spiritual journal, and the dissemination 
of Spiritual literature was only repaid by public odium and social ostracism. 

Mr. David Weatherhead, as the first pubUsher of the first Spiritual journal 
issued from the English press, undoubtedly courted the martyr's cross that 
was put upon him ; but who can doubt that he is now reaping the reward of 
the martyr's crown in the better life to which his brave spirit has attained ? 

After the Spiritual Telegraph, the oldest and most important work of the 
movement was the London Spiritual Magazine, which, during a period of 
nearly twenty years, sent forth its monthly record of Spiritual work and 
progress in Great Britain in choice language and scholarly form. This 
magazine was pubUshed by the accompUshed writer Wihiam Wilkinson, Esq., 
solicitor, of Lincoln's Inn, a gentleman who contributed his wealth and high 
social position to the advancement of Spiritualism and the promulgation of 
its teachings, without fear of or favour from men. Mr. Wilkinson's under- 
taking was promoted and ably sustained by the literary assistance of Mr. 
Thomas Shorter, who — under the mm de plume oi '' Bxqviox" — has written, 
lectured, and laboured for the cause of Spiritualism, with a devotion and 
zeal that entitle him to the gratitude of every spiritualist in this generation. 
Quite early in the history of the modern movement, Mr. Shorter published 
an admirable and compendious work on the Spiritualism of all ages and 
times, entitled "The Two Worlds." The production of this lucid, and 
charmingly written work, would in itself have been sufficient to elevate its 
author to a high rank in the world of letters had the subject been any other 
than Spirituahsm. Working on unceasingly, Mr. Shorter never paused to 
enquire whether the sublime truths he promulgated met, or opposed the 
popular taste. From the first opening of the immortal gates to the eyes of 
humanity in this century, up to the truly dark day, when the irreparable loss 



200 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

of sight fell like a pall across the noble gentleman's way, he has laboured 
with tongue, pen, and influence, to help to plant the standard of the faith and 
illuminate the path of others with the radiance of that better world, which 
alone remains to guide his darkened way on earth. 

Even since the affliction of bhndness has fallen upon him, Mr. Shorter 
has not relapsed his efforts to steady the ark of progress as it moves on its 
way. His fearless testimony is ever ready, and his clear voice is heard at 
every public gathering of Metropolitan Spiritualists. A fine collection of 
choice poems has lately been issued by him, for the consolation and 
instruction of those who ca7i see to read them, — and Mr. Shorter's career 
gives promise of closing like that of the good sentinel of Pompeian 
celebrity who died at his post — "faithful unto death." 

In addition to the invaluable services of Messrs. Wilkinson and Shorter, 
the London Spiritual Magazine numbered amongst its staff of contributors 
the flower of European Spiritual literati. 

Pre-eminent above all others, stands out the noble name of William 
Howitt, an author whose works are the pride of every well-informed English 
reader; a gentleman whom to know was to love and honour, and a 
Spiritualist whose fearless advocacy shed lustre on his cause, and became a 
tower of strength to his co-workers. Happily for the better appreciation of 
Mr. Howitt and his wonderful literary labours, a faithful transcript of his 
life is just now passing through the press in a volume entitled "The 
Pioneers of the Spiritual Reformation." Mr. Howitt's biography forms the 
opening chapters of this interesting work, and how full of valuable informa- 
tion the volume itself will be, may be gathered from the fact, that it is 
written by the daughter of Mary and William Howitt, Mrs. Watts, — a lady 
whose charming contributions to Spiritual literature have already become 
familiar to admiring readers over the signature of " A.'M. H. W," It may 
not be inappropriate in this place to give an excerpt from the London 
Spiritual Magazine in which Mr. Howitt defines, in his own forcible 
language, the nature of some of his spiritual experiences. He says : — 

" We liave seen tables often enough lifted by invisible power from the floor ; seen them 
give answers to questions by rising and sinking in the air ; we have seen them in the air 
keep time by their movements to a tune playing on a piano ; seen them slide about the 

floor of a room, laying themselves down when touched We have heard bells 

ring in the air, and seen them thus ringing move about a room ; seen flowers broken from 
plants, and carried to different persons, without any visible hand ; seen musical instru- 
ments play correct airs apparently of themselves, and even rise up, place themselves on a 
person's head, and play out a well-known air in fine style. We have heard remarkable 
predictions given through mediums, and which have come literally to pass ; heard wonder- 
ful descriptions of scenes in the invisible world made by persons in clairvoyant trance, 
which would require the highest imaginative genius to invent or embody in words ; have 
seen writing done by pencils laid on paper in the middle of the floor, not within reach of 
any person present, and innumerable such things." 

And in speaking of the drawings made by Madam Hauffe under spirit- 
influence, he takes occasion to make the following statement of his own 
experience as a spirit-medium : — 

" Having myself, who never had a single lesson in drawing, and never could draw in 
a normal condition, had a great number of cii^cles struck through my hand under spirit- 
influence, and these filled up by tracery of ever new invention, without a thought of my 
own, I, at once, recognise the truth of Kerner's statement. The drawings made by my 
hand have been seen by great numbers of persons, artists as well as others, and remain to 
be seen, though the power is again gone from me. Giotto, or any pair of compasses, could 
not strike more perfect circles than I could under this influence, with nothing but a piece 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 201 

of paper and a pencil. No inventor of tracery or patterns could invent such original ones 
as were thrown out on the paper day after day, with almost lightning speed, except with 
long and studious labour, and by instrumental aid. At the same time the sketches given 
through me are not to be named with the drawings, both in pencil and colours, produced in 
this manner through others who are well known." 

As an example of the logical yet religious tone of Mr. Howitt's philo- 
sophical articles on this subject we call the reader's attention to the subjoined 
passages, taken from the London Spiritual Magazine of April, 1863 : — 

"And all this time, in England, thousands and tens of thousands were daily sitting 
down in their families and circles of intimate friends, and quietly and successfully testing 
those angels under their own mode of advent, and finding them real. And both in 
America and here, as well as in most of the Continental nations, this has been the great 
mode of enquiry and convincement. Public mediums have, in reahty, only inaugurated 
the movement : it has been, of necessity, carried on by private and family practice. In 
this domestic prosecution of Spiritualism, equally inaccessible to the vulgar sorcerer and 
the interested impostor — where every person was desirous only of truth, and many of 
them of deep religious truth — the second stage of Spiritual development, the more interior 
and intellectual, has been reached by a very large community. For there is, indeed, a 
very large section of society who are sick of empty profession, or disgusted with the 
dreary cheat of scepticism, and who have been long yearning for some revelation of the 
immortal hopes of earlier years, in some substantial and unmistakeable form . They have 
found this in the daily visits of their departed friends, coming to them with all their old 
identities of soul, taste, or memory of annouucements of Christian truth, and of God's 
promised felicity. They have listened again and again to the words of their beloved ones, 
bidding them take courage, for there was no death, but that around them walked their 
so-called departed, ready to aid and comfort them in their earth pilgrimage, and to 
receive them to immediate and far more glorious existence." 

Besides the voluminous mass of historical and descriptive writings for 
which both Mr. and Mrs. Howitt have attained a world-wide celebrity, 
Mrs. Howitt has enriched the repertoire of Spiritual literature with a fine 
translation of Enmemoser's " History of Magic," whilst Mr. Wm. Howitt's 
" History of the Supernatural," in two volumes, and his splendid magazine 
articles, are acknowledged to be amongst the best standard works of which 
the Spiritual cause can boast. 

Amongst the many popular and distinguished writers of the day who 
have fearlessly avowed their interest in SpirituaHsm and contributed talent 
and reputation to its advocacy, were Mr, and Mrs. S. C. Hall, the former 
well-known as the editor of the London Art Journal, whilst Mrs. Hall's 
charming works of fiction, and other writings, have procured for her a 
world-wide celebrity. It would be difficult to exaggerate the valuable 
influence exercised by this accomplished couple upon the cause of 
Spiritualism. 

Moving in the highest ranks of European society, their residence was the 
scene of delightful reunions, where gifted Mediums and persons of the 
highest literary and scientific culture were brought together and combined 
to send forth an influence which permeated the ranks of the most 
intellectual classes of Europe. It is but a few short years since the fair 
form of the talented authoress, Maria S. C. Hall, vanished from her wide 
circle of admirers and passed to the land of light to which her hand had 
already pointed so many of earth's weary pilgrims. And thus after fifty 
years of heart and soul companionship, the noble octogenarian, S. C. Hall, 
was left alone on earth, at least so far as mortal sight is concerned ; never 
have the triumphs of Spiritualism become more manifest than in the 
fortitude with which this truly " Christian " gentleman sustains the tempo- 
rary separation between the mortal and the immortal. At a crowded 
reception tendered to the author by the Central Association of Spiritualists, 



202 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

a few months since, on the occasion of her visit to London, Mr. S. C. 
Hall — then over eighty years of age — made the speech of the night, and 
in a strain of glowing eloquence that thrilled every heart, and brought 
tears to every eye, he declared that the grave had not separated him from 
his angel wife. Her constant communications cheered his loneliness, he 
said ; guided his mortal footsteps and gave him unceasing assurance that 
she in heaven and he on earth were now as ever one in heart, life 
interest, and undying interchange of loving communion. . . . What a 
triumphant illustration of immortal life over mortal death, and of the value 
of the much derided facts and philosophy of Spiritualism ! 

In addition to these eminent writers, many others of scarcely less celebrity 
assisted in making the London Spiritual Magazine a work as valuable in 
an aesthetic point of view, as it was interesting to the believers in Spirit 
communion. 

One of the first volumes published in the interests of Spiritualism, and 
still a standard work with those who desire to trace out the movement from 
its incipiency, is Mrs. De Morgan's excellent sketch of her own experiences, 
entitled " From Matter to Spirit." 

Another valuable and timely compendium of Spiritual facts and philo- 
sophy is, "The Natural and Supernatural," written at an early period of 
the movement in England, by J. Enmore Jones, Esq., of Norwood. 

Mr. D. D. Home has pubUshed two interesting volumes at different times, 
the one called "Incidents of My Life," the other " Lights and Shadows of 
Spiritualism." 

Omitting the long list of smaller volumes, tracts, pamphlets, leaflets, 
&c., &c., which swell the mass of English Spiritual literature, we next call 
attention to an admirable work — " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," 
written by the celebrated author and naturalist. Professor A. R. Wallace. 
For the unpretentious size of this volume it would be difficult to find any 
work which presents a more unanswerable array of facts, logic, and scientific 
deductions ; in short, it is in every way worthy to be regarded as a Spirit- 
ualistic manual, of equal value to the well-informed Spirituahst, and the 
earnest investigator. 

Besides the intrinsic value of Professor Wallace's admirable work, the 
public have appreciated it all the more, from the fact that it emanates from 
the pen of one so highly honoured in the ranks of science and literature as 
Alfred Russell Wallace. Dividing honours with the alleged founder of the 
famous doctrine of " evolution " — Charles Darwin — a world-wide traveller, 
naturalist, and distinguished author, Professor Wallace has never hesitated 
to contribute his honoured testimony to the much-abused cause of Spirit- 
uahsm. His clear logical speeches, unanswerable magazine and journalistic 
articles, and his noble defence and exposition of true Spiritualism, when 
and wherever opportunity has permitted, all have combined to render 
Professor Wallace's adherence to the cause of Spiritualism a tower of 
strength which can never be too gratefully remembered. 

Professor Crookes's record of experiments with Mr. D. D. Home, Miss 
Cook, and other Media \ Professor Zoellner's " Transcendental Physics," 
and the " Report of the Dialectical Society," have been already noticed. 

One of the most esteemed and gifted writers in the ranks of Spiritualism 
is the gentleman known by the no7?i de plume of " M. A., Oxon." 

Amongst this truly inspired author's collected writings, the most popular 
are, the four volumes entitled severally, " Psych ography;" " Spirit Identity \ " 
"The Higher Aspects of Spiritualism ; " and "Spirit Teachings." 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 203 

.Nothing in the whole realm of occult literature can surpass the deep 
insight, and profound mastery of Spiritualistic problems, manifested in these 
works. And yet they are but a small part of " M. A., Oxon's " contribu- 
tions. His fine magazine and journalistic articles are to be found in most 
of the high-toned periodicals of the last few years, whilst his well-known 
signature invariably attracts every thoughful reader who desires to be 
instructed, as well as interested. 

Three of the most remarkable volumes that have of late issued from the 
English Spiritual press, are those, circulated chiefly amongst the publisher's 
personal friends, entitled, " Angelic Revelations." They are a collection of 
communications given through the Mediumship of a lady in private life, 
and received by a circle of ladies and gentlemen whose sessions were 
continued for several years in the city of Manchester. The seances were of 
the most exclusive character, and were only participated in by such persons 
as the controlling intelligences elected to receive. Each of these favoured 
individuals was named by the presiding '* angels," according to the 
qualities of mind that distinguished them. To Mr. William Oxley, the 
well-known and highly-esteemed Spiritualistic author, was assigned the 
onerous task of recording the communications spoken in trance by the 
Medium. 

Thus the whole of the three volumes above named, have been written out 
and prepared for the press, and published in the highest form of mechanical 
art, by Mr. Oxley " the Recorder," with the permission of the controlling 
intelligences, and under the auspices of the Manchester circle,* No 
comment can do justice to the ecstatic style or remarkable views of the 
future life, indicated in these volumes. They must be read to be appre- 
ciated, and then they form but one fragment of the innumerable and 
diverse revealments of the after life, and man's spiritual genesis and exodus, 
which the trance utterances of the present dispensation have furnished us 
with. The volumes above mentioned are not the only ones for which the 
world is indebted to their accomplished publisher, 

Mr. William Oxley has written a remarkably fine poetical adaptation of 
the celebrated Hindoo Baghavat Gita ; an excellent metaphysical work 
entitled "The Philosophy of Spirit;" and he is now enriching the 
columns of the Medhmi and Daybreak with a graphic account of the 
ancient monuments of Egypt, which he describes and comments upon in 
the progressive spirit of an advanced thinker, and from the standpoint 
of his own personal knowledge, obtained during a recent visit to the 
wonderful old land of the Pharaohs. Mr. Oxley's name has become so long 
familiarized to every reader of the best Spiritual literature, by noble and 
high-toned articles, that many will rejoice in the opportunity of becoming 
better acquainted with their favourite author, through the accompanying 
fine illustrations. The introduction to the facsimiles of the spiritually pro- 
duced flower and the spirit foot are too graphically recorded in Mr. Oxley's 
own words to need any other comment than their perusal will suggest. 

Mr. Oxley, addressing the author of this volume, says : — 

" To Mrs. Britten, — I have the pleasure to furnish you with engravings of a materialised 
spirit's foot, which represents with perfect exactitude the plaster cast, moulded by a 
professional artist, from the paraffin was envelope. Apart from any suggestions of 
trickery and collusion the cast itself tells its own tale, for it has the cuticle marks .in the 
crucial parts, which it would be impossible to produce \mder any circumstances without a 

* " Angelic Revelations, concerning the origin, ultimation, and destiny of the Human Spirit, &c., 
may be had from T. Gaskell, 69, Oldham Road, Manchester. 



204 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

mould formed of many parts, as any mechanician, or even ordinary person can see at a 
glance. The cast foot is eight inches long by three inches in the smallest part, and nine 
inches in the widest part. The opening at the top of the foot is 2 J inches diameter. 
And yet through this opening the foot was instantaneously withdrawn. The medium 
was Mrs. Firman (now deceased). The modus operandi was as follows : I prepared the 
melted hot liquid paraffin, into which the little spirit form dipped her foot several times, 
so as to make it of sufficient thickness to maintain its figure. After this operation the 
spirit form — known to us as Bertie — put out her foot ^vith, the wax mould upon it, and 
asking me to take hold of it, which I did, the foot was withdrawn (or dissolved, I know not 
which) and the mould left in my hand. This was at the house of a friend in Manchester, 
April 11th, 1876, and next morning I took the wax mould to Mr. Bernaditto, who filled 
it with plaster, and, after melting the wax from the plaster, the result was a beautiful 
feminine human foot, of which the illustration is a faithful copy. The crucial test of 
this wondrous phenomenon is seen by reference to Figure II. The ball of the toe 
(see D c), half an inch thick, had to be drawn through an opening only a quarter-inch deep 
(see B a), which of course, under ordinary circumstances, is a physical impossibility, 
without destroying the fine bridge (see a c), and it is exactly on this bridge that the 
cuticle marks are delineated as perfectly as on the human foot. Your space will not 
permit me to give the means employed to eliminate anything Uke fraudulent action on 
the part of the medium, neither is it necessary to do so, as the cast itself — stiU in my 
possession — leaves its own stamp of genuineness, for there is not a single mark that 
betokens anything contrary to what it really is, viz., a cast from a whole and perfect 
mould, without a division ; and I challenge the world to produce the like, otherwise than 
by similar agency. I, myself, made the so-called cabinet, which was the recess of a bay 
window, into which nothing could get without being seen by ten pairs of watchful eyes 
(there was a good light all through the seance). The medium, who was a woman of 
great size, went inside, and in the course of some fifteen minutes, the little psychic 
form of Bertie presented herself, and went through the operations as described above. 
After the performance she disappeared, and in a moment or two I drew the curtain aside, 
and there was Mrs. Firman entranced, and the sole occupant. Where was Bertie ? 

" The other illustration is from a photograph of a plant with flower, produced through 
the mediumship of Mrs. Esperance, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, August 4th, 1880. The 
reader must take all accessories for granted, as it is superfluous to enumerate all the 
precautionary measures to ensure genuine phenomena. 

" The cabinet was a plain wooden box, five feet high, closed at top aud bottom, with a 
gauze division in the centre, and a curtain covering the whole front, about six feet wide. 
The medium sat in one compartment, and the company (about twenty persons) sat round 
in horse-shoe fashion. In a short time, a little figure, draped in white, known as Yolande, 
emerged from the other (empty) compartment. That it was not the medium was evident 
from the fact of the figure being much less in size, and different in outline, and I heard 
Mrs. E. breathing hard while the figure was outside. Yolande requested my friend, 
Reimers, to get a glass water-bottle, and some sand and water, which, when mixed, he put 
into the bottle, and returned to his seat. Yolande then made a few passes over the bottle, 
and actually created a white gauzy cloth before our very eyes. She then retired about a 
yard from the bottle, and sat down on the floor. Presently we saw — for there was sufficient 
light to clearly distinguish the operation — the gauze veil gradually rising, as if there was 
something moving it upwards. In about two minutes, after rising about sixteen inches, 
Yolande rose to her feet and went to the bottle, from which she removed the covering, and 
lo ! there was a plant with green leaves grown out of the bottle, with its roots in the sand : 
but there was no flower on it. After we had somewhat recovered from our astonishment, 
Yolande took it up, bottle and all, and gave it into my hands. She then retired into the 
cabinet. After the company had inspected it, I placed it at my feet, and waited for what 
should come next. In a few minutes raps were heard, and then the alphabet was used. 
' Look at your plant ' was spelt out, and taking it up I found, not only that it had grown 
very considerably in size, but there was a beautiful flower about four inches diameter on 
it. This was produced while it tvas between my feet. I took it to my hotel, and next 
morning had it photographed, of which the engraving is an exact copy. The next night 
Yolande gave me a small rosebud on a short stalk, with not more than two leaves on. This 
1 put in my bosom, and kept it there during the time that the seance lasted ; but having 
the impression that something was going on, I put my hand to feel it, and noticing that it 
felt different I kept my own counsel and did not disturb it. When the stance was drawing 
to a close, I drew forth my rosebud, when, strange to relate, it had developed into a bunch 
of three large full-hlown roses, with a hud as well I These I also put away with the plant. 

" Extensive as has been my experience — now ranging over many years — with psychic 
sensitives, there have been no results more satisfactory and pleasing — i.e., on the physical 
plane — than the above which I have narrated, and curtailed, so as to give only the bald 



PLASTER CAST OF RIGHT FOOT. 

OF A MATEEIALTSED PSYCHIC FOEM 
Known as "BERTIE." 






The Paraffin Wax Mould was presented by the 
Form while still on her foot to Wm. Oxley, who 
took hold of it, when the foot was instantaneously 
withdrawn. Produced in Manchester (England) 
April nth, 1876. 




PLANT WITH FLOWER. 

(IXOKA CEAETA^ 

Produced by the Materialised Psychic Form 
Yolaade, which grew out of a glass water 
bottle in the presence of 20 witnesses at 
Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, Aug. 4th, 1880. 

From Photograph taken next day in possession 
of William Oxley, Manchester. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 205 

facts. The top leaves (six inches long), with a part of the stalk and remains of flower 
plant (preserved under glass), together with the foot^along with other hand casts — pro- 
duced under similar circumstances as told — are before me as I write, and I trust that they 
may be kept for ages to come as souvenirs, or first fruits of that mighty spiritual force and 
movement — now in its commencement — which is destined to change the face of the whole 
earth, both as a physical orb, and also the social status of humanity that, from generation 
to generation, will live and move upon its surface. Without trespassing further on your 
time and space, allow me to congratulate you on the part which you have been destined to 
play in this wondi'ous drama ; and unless I grievously err, the time will come — and at do 
very distant date — when this new volume, which you are now giving to the world, will be 
recognised and appreciated at its vastly more than mere money value. Each pioneer has 
his or her own specific work to perform ; and amongst these, none have laboured more 
assiduoiisly, and more unselfishly, than the gifted editress of 'Art-Magic' ; 'Ghost Land' : 
and the authoress of the ' History of the Modern Spiritual Movement all over the Earth.' 
So states 

" Your Fellow Workman, 

" William Oxley. 
" Manchester, August 15th, 1883." 

Another of the writers who in any department of human thought rather 
than that of the " occult," would have achieved a world-wide celebrity, is 
the noble Countess of Caithness, now Duchesse de Pomar. Besides many 
fugitive contributions to the journalistic literature of the day, this accom- 
plished authoress has written two remarkable works all too little known ; 
the one, a volume of nearly 500 pages, entitled " Old Truths in a New 
Light," the other, " Serious Letters to Serious Friends." These publications 
are no mere poetical effusions of a high-born lady, but the brilliant, sterling, 
and philosophic arguments of a master mind, enclosed in one of Nature's 
fairest and most womanly forms. Soaring far above her compeers in the 
gay and fashionable world, this truly noble woman maintains her lead in 
the most aristocratic European salons, and yet dares avow herself an 
"occultist" in the profoundest sense of the term. In the midst of princes 
and potentates, this brave lady hesitates not to appear in loving companion- 
ship with the spirit mediums whom she honours with her friendship, and 
whilst many of the gay butterflies who crowd her Parisian /^/^j- are spending 
their time in councilling how to adorn themselves with modistes and 
friseurts, this high-minded and indefatigable labourer in God's vineyard, is 
penning sublime Unes, which Hft the soul up to heaven, and forge the 
golden links of an universal Brotherhood, for all humanity. Amongst the 
lesser works that have fallen from the Countess of Caithness's pen, is a 
charming brochure entitled '• A Midnight Visit to Holyrood." It is founded 
upon the singular relations which attach this lady to her much-beloved 
guardian spirit, the fair and hapless " Marie Stuart, Queen of Scots." At 
the request of this angelic guide, the Countess paid a midnight visit to 
Holyrood, there to listen to the spirit voice of her, whose sighs of anguish 
had been borne on many a wailing breeze through those grim and mournful 
towers. 

We would fain linger on the Countess's thrilling description of her inter- 
view with the presiding genius of the scene, did space permit. Failing 
this, we must still offer a brief extract from this fascinating little work, were 
it only to give the world —profoundly ignorant of true spiritual ethics — 
some idea of the tone in which purified spirits commune with mortals, and 
the character of the advice which the solemn pedagogues of the pulpit so 
irreverently assure their gaping listeners, proceed from " demons ! " 

The modes in which the spirit and the mortal hold communion is thus 
described by the Countess of Caithness. She says : — 



2o6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

"It is now nearly eight years since I was first made aware of her (Marie Stuart's) con- 
nection with me ; or rather, perhaps, I should better describe our relations as my con- 
nection with her — but only three, since I have enjoyed the happiness of communion with 
her. I often feel her presence. She makes it known to me in many different ways ; and 
the oral communications I have received from her, and taken down at various times to 
the best of my ability, have swollen into the size of a small volume, These interviews 
have generally taken place in the quietude of my own room, and during the calm silence 
of the midnight hour. But she has also come to me amongst the wild hiUs of Scotland, 
or when seated on the high chffs of Caithness overlooking the stormy Pentland Firth ; 
but only when its wild waves have been comparatively at rest, and reflecting the intense 
blue of the sky as serene as that which usually overarches the sunny Mediterranean, and 
when there has been no sign of life around save the white sea-gull sailing majestically 
overhead between the earth and sky, and the crisp Uttle white crested waves called ' The 
Merry Men of Mey' tumbling over one another as if in mad glee at my feet — have I felt 
her gentle presence, which is ever bright and soothing as a sunbeam, and heard her 
precious words, which have appeared to me sublime in their beauty, and in their intent, 
ever urging me onward in the path of truth and progress, and opening out fresh vistas to 
me of my pathway in the future." 

As a specimen of the communication above referred to, we commend 
the following excerpt from Marie Stuart to Marie Caithness : — ■ 

" Go not alone to the Word for Hfe, but also to those who gave it, for they have added 
knowledge which is more appropriate, and better adapted to the present hour of spiritual 
growth and unfoldment. Reverently use the Bible for guidance and instruction. Use 
Nature's great Bible even as reverently, but remember that the passive soul-inspired one 
will rise even to the beatitudes, gathering new thought- germs, watching the opening bulb 
and seed of original heaven-inspired ideas ; proving all things, holding fast unto that which 
will bear all the light which science, art, and reason can bring to bear upon them. You, 
my child, have a mind capable of grasping truths that are destined to make all nations 
free and inspired. Aye ! and this is accomplishing even now. Stand out before the 
world as one who dares think — one who courts the wisdom of the ages, and grasps the 
hght of the universe to guide humanity forward. The sweet, ever-living truths given to 
the world by its inspired ones are to be revered, but let us not go backward with un- 
covered heads asking wisdom ; let us rather press forward even into the inner courts 
of the temple where Deific harmonies lull the soul into conditions of mind that admit of 
communion with the Builder of all worlds, the Origin of all hfe, all forms. Let us rise 
even to the holy altar where a John carried his gifts, and became fiUed with power." 

There is yet another literary work by the Countess of Caithness, to which 
we only call attention, without attempting in the present historical com- 
pendium to analyze its nature, or do justice to its merits. It was during 
the closing weeks of the year 1880, that the Countess of Caithness contri- 
buted a remarkable series of papers to the London Medium and Daybreak, 
on the signs of the times, and the occult prophecies which, from the most 
remote ages, had pointed to this period. The inspired writer gave an 
elaborate review of the Cabalistic interpretation of the Biblical writings. 
She reviewed the Apocalyptic, prophetic, and Pythagorean systems of 
numbers, and connected them, and the veiled significance of the mediaeval 
mystical writings with the present discoveries which are revealing the occult 
meanings in Oriental monuments and myths. From all these sources the 
the learned writer drew the conclusion that the year 1880 completed one 
of those cycles of time known to, and defined by the ancient prophets, 
whilst the year 1881 might be regarded as the commencement of an 
entirely new era, and one which physically, mentally, politically, and 
religiously, was destined to be regarded by future ages as the opening up of 
a new dispensation. The Bible, especially the Apocalypse and prophetic 
writings, was treated of in these remarkable essays, and their mystic mean- 
ings interpreted and brought to bear upon the present singularly disturbed 
condition of human thought, especially in respect to religious opinions. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 207 

In testimony of her own implicit faith that a great world dispensation 
closed in 1880, and another, foretold by seers and prophets, inscribed in 
the ancient pyramid of Cheops, and manifest in the universal upheaval of 
human opinions to-day, was inaugurated in 1881, the Countess has adopted 
the date of the new era together with divers occult emblems on her letter 
paper, and in not a few of the ornaments which adorn her toilet, and the 
furniture of her mansion. 

When the mists of the new dawn shall have melted into the sunlight of 
noonday truth, and the cyclic progress of the race shall be fully understood, 
especially in reference to the present transitional and catastrophic period, 
the essays of Lady Caithness, though they are now "cabala" to the 
unthinking multitude, will be then recalled and honoured as the advent 
voice which proclaimed the coming of the new Messiah, the dispensation 
of peace on earth and goodwill to all men. 

Another remarkable addition to the occult, if not the Spiritual literature 
of the times, has been made by the son of the noble lady of whom we 
have been writing — formerly the Count, now the Duke de Medina Pomar, 
This gentleman whilst yet in his teens, became the author of two beauti- 
fully written works of fiction designed to illustrate the doctrine of re-incarna- 
tion, a belief with which his mind is strongly imbued, and one which finds 
a more plausible and fascinating illustration in the young Duke de Pomar's 
writings, than in any of the abstract treatises yet produced on this subject. 
The names of the works in question are "The Honeymoon" and "Through 
the Ages." Both these novels are full of exalted sentiment, vivid descrip- 
tion, and thrilling interest. Both are designed to present in the form of 
what in ancient time would have been termed " parables," and in our own 
age are simply ''works of fiction," grand lessons of ideality and Spiritual 
philosophy. " The Honeymoon " is a veritable dream of beauty ; visionary, 
pathetic, powerful, and enthralHng. If not a direct inspiration, it is such a 
marvellous feat of writing for a mere boy, that it forms to the candid 
reader a far better proof of an invisible thinker guiding the pen of a mortal 
scribe than many a voluminous mass of "communications," labelled with 
the authorship of "the mighty dead." "Through the Ages" is a novel 
which — as its name implies — traces the progress of a Spirit through all 
those phases of mortal trial and discipline, which the re-incarnationists 
affirm to be essential to round out the full perfection of the soul through 
human experiences. 

It ever stern facts could be superseded by the sophistry of undemonstrated 
theories, it would be through the fascinating influences of a pen so facile, 
and an imagination so vivid as that of the Duke de Medina Pomar. The 
pictures are simply perfect, and if ever re-incarnation could be proved, this 
brilliant writer's " Through the Ages " would be a veritable modern Iliad 
of the faith. 

Since the production of these chefs d'czuvre, the Duke de Pomar has 
published several dashing works of fiction in which his brilliant pen has 
been more prompt to lash the vices and folUes of society, than to renew his 
earlier and more exalting task of lifting up the unthinking multitude to a 
higher standard of life and action Though still a very young man, the 
Duke has dropped his prolific pen, and to the deep regret of his many 
admirers, he floats on the surface of society, but writes, for the present, no 
more. Like all subjects of inspiration the fire of his special literary epoch 
is burnt out, but that it will be rekindled again none who have studied 
his peculiarly- sensitive nature can question. Whatever the future may call 



2o8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

forth, none who read the young Duke de Pomar's first literary productions, 
can hesitate to pronounce them the work of a very talented man, or a 
phenomenally inspired boy. If years are to decide the question, the 
latter position is the only solution of which his writings are susceptible. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONTINUE]!. ) 

Still More Concerning the Literature of Spiritualism in England. 

Amongst the most important of the contributions that have been made to 
the Uterature of English SpirituaHsm are the writings of Mr. John Farmer, 
whose name has achieved a wide-spread popularity on both sides of the 
Atlantic, as the author of " A New Basis of Belief in Immortality," and the 
admirable pamphlet entitled, " How to Investigate Spiritualism." In both 
these works Mr. Farmer has dealt with his subjects in an equally scholarly 
and exhaustive mode. Both have commanded the respectful notice of the 
secular press, and hold a deservedly high place in the estimation of every 
reader of Spiritual literature. 

It may be remembered that Mr. Farmer's " New Basis of Belief in 
Immortality," was deemed worthy of being alluded to in terms of warm 
commendation by one of the great religious dignitaries of the late Eccle- 
siastical Congress assembled at Newcastle. We do not cite this as praise 
of any extraordinary value, but simply to show that the religious tone and 
authoritative character of that work could command the respect of such 
men as Canon Wilberforce, Dr. Thornton, &c., &c. 

One of the most candid and capable critics of the present day, the book 
reviewer of the Truthseeker, says of this volume : — 

" This is an exceedingly thoughtful book ; temperate, earnest, and bright with vivid 
and intelhgent love of truth. Mr. Farmer is no fanatic, if we may judge of him by his 
book, but a brave seeker after the truth. Incidentally, he conveys a vast amount of 
information concerning what are called the phenomena of Spiritualism — what these 
phenomena are, under Vfhat conditions they are obtained, and to what they lead ; but his 
main purpose is to show how Spiritualism explains the Bible, supplies the key to not a 
little that is mysterious in ' historical Christianity,' and furnishes, as he says, ' a new 
basis of belief.' We commend his book to the attention of aU who are prepared to give 
serious attention to a very serious subject." 

To the above-quoted opinions every intelligent reader, whether Spiritualist 
or opponent, must say Amen. 

In noticing the two most popular works that have emanated from Mr. 
Farmer's pen, it must not be supposed that these are his only contributions 
to the realm of Spiritual literature. 

Mr. Farmer is the author of a fine metaphysical essay on " Present Day 
Problems," and a work on Mesmerism, the modest title of which — "Hints 
on Mesmerism " — bears no proportion to the valuable, and truly practical 
matter it contains. It was to the zeal and enterprise of this gentleman also, 
that the excellent monthly periodical entitled The Psychological Review, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 209 

after an interregnum of many months, was revived in July, 1881, and carried 
forward to the current year of 1883, 

Since the suspension of this magazine became inevitable, Mr. Farmer has 
given time and indomitable effort to the editorial management of the fine 
journal so often referred to in this volume, called Light. 

Mr. Farmer's devoted and untiring services in the cause of SpirituaHsm 
have been rendered in so quiet and unostentatious a manner, and his name 
has obtained so little prominence, except as the author of the popular 
works above referred to, that the reader may be surprised to learn how 
largely the present literary standing of the movement is indebted to him ; 
indeed it is with the view of " rendering honour where honour is due," that 
the author tenders this brief but well-merited tribute of acknowledgment 
to one of the best and most philosophic writers, as well as one of the most 
efficient and faithful workers in the ranks of Spiritualism. 

Of the other periodicals connected with the movement, it is only 
necessary to say, the first metropolitan journal that was issued as a weekly 
organ was published by Mr. Robert Cooper, and called The Spiritual Ti7nes. 

The unfortunate prosecution incurred by Mr. Coleman, involving in its 
results the publisher of this paper, occasioned its suspension after a short- 
lived existence. About 1870, Mr. James Burns commenced the publica- 
tion of an able, well written weekly paper entitled The Medium and Day- 
break. Still later the enterprising editor started a fine monthly magazine 
called Human Nature, 

This periodical — although filled with the articles of able contributors — 
maintained only an ephemeral existence compared to its cotemporary 
The Medium, which has continued through a period of thirteen years, and 
still holds its own against the claims of younger rivals. Its editor, like 
many of the prominent workers in the divided ranks of Spiritualism, has 
incurred some amount of both ban and blessing from his fellow labourers. 
Amongst his most determined antagonists however, none will deny him the 
credit of indomitable energy, perseverance, and a determination to uphold 
his paper, and all that he conceives to be his special work in connection 
with the cause of Spiritualism, at any sacrifice. Mr. Burns is a clever, 
lucid, and interesting speaker, besides being an expert phrenologist. His 
lectures on phrenology, temperance, vegetarianism, hygiene, &c., &c., are 
as creditable to his advanced thought as a practical reformer, as they have 
been instrumental in lifting up humanity to higher motives of life and 
action throughout Great Britain. In an excellent speech made at the 
anniversary celebration of the 31st of March, 1882, Mr. Burns gives the 
following graphic account of his first attempt at Spiritual journalism : — 

" Twelve years ago the Movement was expectant of a change — a widening out of its 
sphere of action. Some autumn seed had been sown to prepare for the harvest of the 
year just closed. Daybreak had been in existence as a monthly paper, and the Spiritualist 
had been commenced fortnightly. To our great regret it was not weekly, as we shrank 
from the task of taking up the burden of a weekly paper, and hoped the Spiritualist 
would step in and save us. Sunday services had been started at Cavendish Rooms 
by Mr. Peebles, and a penny hymn book had been piinted. The Spiritual Institution 
was at work, and means for bringing the phenomena before the public were in operation. 
There was at that time no public movement ; but the elements of such a thing were in 
a state of combination and development. 

"The experienced journalist will smile when told that when we set about the first 
number of the Medium we had no contributors, no means, no experience, no ambition, 
no end to serve. The spirit world required a ' medium ' of the press, and we gave it 
one, by the aid of a kind lady, now in the spirit- world, who came in and laid a £5 note 
on the counter. Like a httle stream at its fountain head, our first number was insignia 

14 



2IO NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

ficant, and contained no specious promises for the future. We felt tlie shadow of years 
of suffering and toil enveloping us, and moved in our vcork, as the hands do on the face of 
the clock, with no purpose of their own, but obedient to the unseen power within." 

Through good and evil report, Mr. Burns has carried his enterprise 
forward with unflagging energy, and with the exception of the London 
Spiritual Magazine no other EngHsh periodical has bravely weathered so 
many storms, or maintained the flag of the movement it advocates for so 
long a period, and that under the pressure of the severest trials. 

The Spiritualist newspaper mentioned by Mr. Burns, and often referred 
to in these pages, was a very scholarly journal representing the scientific 
aspect of Spiritualism, and for several year^ was ably conducted by Mr. 
Wm. Harrison. 

Notwithstanding the unbounded generosity with which Charles Black- 
burn, Esq., of Didsbury, Manchester, contributed to the support of this 
paper, it was quite recently suspended, and perhaps forms another evidence, 
that when the purposes of the Spirit world are accomplished, the instruments 
are laid aside, and a fresh set of influences are brought to bear upon the 
progress of a movement — of unmistakably supra-mundane power and 
purpose. 

At the time when this volume was commenced, there were, unfortunately 
for the best interests of each individual enterprise, four Spiritual journals 
put before the English public, namely, the two already mentioned, The 
Herald of Progress, published at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and the latest and 
one of the finest of the Spiritual journals, called Light^ formerly conducted 
by Mr. Dawson Rogers, and now under the editorship of Mr. John Farmer. 
Like the Spiritualist ; Light represents the scientific and metaphysical 
phases of the Spiritual movement, and its articles — especially those 
contributed by " M. A., Oxon," and Mrs. A. H. M. Watts, are of the highest 
interest and value. 

With such a corps of contributors as " M. A., Oxon," Hon. Roden Noel, 
Mr. Spicer, Hensleigh Wedgwood, Prof Barratt, Dr. Wylde, and many 
other writers of no less ability, but above all, with Mr. John Farmer in 
the editorial chair, Light, like its veteran cotemporary, The Medium, 
ought to be as nobly sustained as it deserves, and compensate for many of 
the evanescent ephemera of past years, by an unquenchable and permanent 
existence. Since this volume was commenced, another monthly journal 
entitled The Spiritual Record, has been issued by the indefatigable 
veteran pubHsher of Glasgow, Mr. Hay Nesbit. Report speaks highly of 
this new venture, and Mr. Nesbit's long and gallant services in the cause 
of Spiritualism, should alone be sufficient to recommend any publication 
to which his honoured name and skilful directorship is attached. The 
mention of Mr. Nesbit's much respected name will necessarily call forth the 
desire to know how the movement progresses in the city where his valuable 
services are so faithfully rendered. 

Although Spiritualism in its two well-defined phases of religious belief, 
and phenomenal demonstration, has permeated every part of the United 
Kingdom and found acceptance from all classes, from the palace to the 
hut, it has made little or no distinctive mark anywhere as a public movement 
except in England. The following notices concerning the status of the 
cause in Glasgow may furnish some evidence of exception to this rule, 
hence their introduction in this place. 

In the year 1867, the few beUevers in spirit intercourse resident in 
Glasgow, solicited the author to pay them a visit in her capacity of a 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 211 

Spiritual lecturer. It was represented to her that the unusual phenomenon 
of a lady speaking on religious subjects in the city of John K?iox, might 
awaken popular sentiments of an antagonistic character, especially as 
Spirit communion was to be the theme ; one which, though well known 
and practised largely in private circles, had hitherto borne but an evil 
name in the censorship of Glasgow public opinion. Altogether the pro- 
spects were not very encouraging, but as the author had ever been 
accustomed to make choice of such scenes for her public efforts, as her 
wise and far-seeing Spirit Guides advised, she yielded to their persuasions, 
and proceeded to fulfil the proposed engagement. 

The visit was made; more lectures were demanded than had been 
covenanted for ; and a far more satisfactory impression was produced than 
could have been anticipated. 

Several curious phenomenal occurrences marked this visit, which neither 
time nor place now permit us to notice. 

At the risk of incurring the charge of egotism however, we deem it 
necessary to the progress of the history, to give the following excerpt from 
the London Spiritual Magazine, of December, 1867, as it records the 
commencement of an era in Glasgow Spiritualism which our next quotation 
will bring down to the present day. 

The first notice is headed : — 

" EMMA HARDINGE IN SCOTLAND. 

" Mrs. Hardinge has been delivering a course of lectures at Glasgow, under the auspices 
of the Association of Spiritualists in that city, and she seems to have created quite a 
sensation in Glasgow, and to have won the hearts of all who heard her. The newspapers, 
to their credit, whilst asserting that they do not agree with all she said, have not pub- 
lished, I believe, a word in derogation of the subjects of her discourses, and in some 
instances they commend her eloquence in unstinted terms of praise. The Christian 
News says : — . . . . " 

[Then follows a series of highly eulogistic personal notices, of no 
moment in the present record.] 

'■ At the close of her course of lectures, the members of the Glasgow Association of 
Spiritualists presented Mrs. Hardinge with a souvenir as an additional mark of their 
respect, and as Mrs. Hardinge has found a new field by this visit to Scotland for the 
ex«rcise of her great gifts, I feel sure it will be improved on a future occasion, and will 
lead to a more general understanding of the truths of Spiritualism." 

Since the author's first and only visit to Glasgow, Mr. J. J. Morse, one of 
the most brilliant and eloquent trance speakers of the new dispensation, and 
Mr. Wallis, another very able and interesting Spiritual lecturer, have from 
time to time filled the rostrum most acceptably. The sensationalism 
awakened by the first public acts of propagandism — especially in con- 
sideration of the propagandist being a lady — has of course died away, but 
a steady and healthful growth of public sentiment in favour of the noble 
philosophy enunciated from the Spiritual rostrum has manifested itself in 
Glasgow, and still maintains its hold upon the hearts of a large number of 
the population. 

The indefatigable efforts of Mr. Hay Nesbit, the well known printer and 
publisher, and the sterhng work of a large number of brave men and 
women who have formed and held circles, organized public meetings, and 
given platform addresses, have kept the lamps which light poor blind 
mortals to the higher life, well trimmed and burning. And this has been 



212 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

done too, at much disadvantage, the distance of Glasgow from the English 
metropolis and the places where Mediumistic effort is most rife, rendering 
the expenses of transit very heavy, and the time consumed in making the 
journey an obstacle not easily overcome. The following communication t& 
the Religio-Philosophical Journal of America^ by one of its most esteemed 
contributors, will give some interesting facts concerning the progress of 
Spiritualism in Glasgow : — 

" A Lyceum was started here last year, and is continued each Sunday afternoon under 
the supervision of the present writer. The library of the society is well stocked with the 
literature of the movement, both English and American, and is largely taken advanlage 
of. ... Through the kindness of one of our most enthusiastic and generous members, Mr. 
James Bowman, the public library in our city has also been supplied with many volumes 
bearing on the subject. . . . Meetings are held in the room on several of the week nights, 
Friday evening being devoted to Mr. David Duguid, so well known for his varied forms 
of mediumship so ably set down by Hay Nisbet, in his introduction to the volume "Hafid, 
Prince of Persia." . . . Mr. Duguid is one of the most retiring of men, working every day at 
his business of a photographer, and giving largely of his spare moments to those who are in 
earnest to investigate the subject. Numbers come from all parts of the world, who carry 
with them mementos of their visit in the shape of those marvellous productions, the little 
direct paintings which are sent forth as missionaries over the world. .... 

'■ Only lately we had a visit from Irving Bishop, a conjuror of some note from your 
side, and this gentleman was taken in hand by all the professors of the Universities of 
Glasgow and Edinburgh, who presented him with an elaborate address, because he had 
exposed Spiritualism. Exposures have been most prolific in directing men and women to 
the subject, and Mr. Irving Bishop's visit was no exception to this. 

" Mr. Alexander Duguid, of Kirkcaldy, and a brother of Mr. David Duguid, the trance 
painting medium, is among the more recent platform workers, and does yeoman's service. 
In his private sittings, which have extended over many of the towns in Scotland, his 
clairvoyant powers have been most successful in bringing the fact of Spirit communion 
home to many hearts. He is largely sought after, and appreciated for his quiet, iinas- 
suming manners and hopeful, manly life ; recently he has been in London for the first 
time, where he met with warm reception from the friends there, speaking at Gospel Hall 
services, with ' M. A., Oxon ' in the chair. 

" Professor James Coates, who has resided in Glasgow for over eighteen months, has 
been quite a tower of strength to the movement since his arrival, ably filling this platform 
on many occasions, acting as secretary and energetically promoting the progress of the 
movement in many ways. Mr. Coates is a phrenologist and mesmerist, who has worked 
up a great reputation in circles outside the spiritual. 

" In Dundee the cause has taken firm root among a great number of families. . . . 
The Secretary of the Glasgow Association is Mr. John Munro, 12, Govanhill-street, Glasgow; 
the president, James Walker, a veteran in the cause. " J. R." 

" Glasgow, Scotland." 

It has often been questioned why Glasgow, a merely commercial centre 
and by no means remarkable for its tendencies to metaphysical speculations, 
should have taken the palm over Edinburgh, the reputed seat of science, 
learning, and as might be expected from such a reputation, of good breeding 
also. Whether the above-named desirable elements are peculiar to Univer- 
sity men in their presence or absetice, the following excerpts written by Mr. 
J. Greenwell, now of London, a well known and reliable correspondent of 
the Medium, and a gentleman incapable of falsehood or exaggeration, will 
sufficiently prove. Mr. Greenwell, writing to the Medium about 1878, says : 

" Some time ago, Mr. Morse lectured at Edinburgh, and his merits were recognised by 
one eminent gentleman, whose words of commendation we quoted from the newspapers. 
As the gentleman in question contrasted Mr. Morse's abilities in the trance with those of 
men who are public teachers of the fashionable stamp, it might be imagined that revenge 
would be taken sooner or later. Reports in the Review and Scotsman have reached us of 
the meeting held in Upper Oddfellows' Hall, Forrest Road, Edinburgh, on Friday, June 6, 
at which Mr. Morse was advertised to speak on a subject to be chosen by the audience. A 
botanical term was voted for by the students, and they would have no other. , . , 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 213 

" As a supplement to the report, I must say that it was the most disgraceful meeting 
of any description that it has been my lot to attend. About a quarter of an hour before 
the lecture was to commence, 100 students, at the very least, came trooping into the hall, 
with the avowed intention of breaking up the meeting, for as soon as they gained 
admission, they began their ungentlemanly operations of throwing peas, singing songs, aud 
performing on tin whistles, &c. Thinking they would probably quiet down when the 
lecturer appeared, Mr. Morse, with Mr. J. T. Rhodes as chairman, made their way on to 
the platform ; when, instead of abating, the noise was resumed with increased vigour, and 
neither the chairman nor Mr. Morse were allowed to speak, owing to the unearthly yells 
issuing from the very refined students, Mr. Morse, in the trance state, was Lhen proceeding 
to deliver his lecture on ' Is Man Material or Spiritual after Death?' when the interruption 
broke out afresh, and continued for two hours, Mr. Morse under control all the time. The 
guides then declined to proceed further, and left the medium. 

"The meeting was then declared closed, when the students in a body made for the 
platform, and commenced to hustle Messrs. Morse, Rhodes, and myself most unmercifully, 
throwing the table from the platform, and smashing a form. Some one then got Mr. Morse 
into the ante-room, where I found him a few minutes afterwards quite overcome and in 
violent convulsions, which continued for almost an hour. It is really difficult to realise 
such a state of things in a free and Christian country in the nineteenth century, but such 
is the case ; and I feel more fully persuaded than ever that the power is only wanted to 
put the existing will in force, and we should soon see the ancient stake, or something more 
torturing, revived for the benefit of Spiritualists and Free-thinkers. 

" I know full well the feelings of indignation that will be evoked from the many friends 
of Mr. Morse, owing to the cruel treatment he has suffered here ; consequently I need 
not remind those friends that increased sympathy towards him is necessary on this 
occasion, the first instalment of which I feel sure would be accorded to him when he 
arrived in Glasgow. ... 

" I am, yours in the cause of truth, 

"Jos. N. Geeenwell. 

" Edinburgh, June 7." 

It is satisfactory to remember that the scenes described above took place 
some six years ago — since when, the general tides of progress may have 
even had a contagious influence upon the gentlemejz of the Edinburgh 
University, and inspired them with a higher tone, both in the realm of 
morals and manners. 

In the British metropolis, many of the well-known Mediums of past 
years have retired from public life, Mrs. Mary Marshall, the well-known 
test and rapping Medium, being almost the only one remaining. Mr. 
Cecil Husk, a new Medium for the production of materiahzed forms, is 
highly reported of; and Mr. Towns, a veteran seer, still astonishes the 
strangers who visit him with revelations of their most secret thoughts. 

Miss Lottie Fowler, the inimitable clairvoyant, trance and test Medium 
from America, and Mrs. Kate Jencken {nee Katy Fox) — a name inscribed 
on the warmest spot of every true Spiritualist's heart — are also ministering 
most successfully to the investigators who seek for test facts of Spirit 
communion. It is much to be regretted that the cause of phenomenal 
Spiritualism has suffered a great loss, in the retirement into private life of 
Mr. Eglinton, a young gentleman who, though not classed as a professional 
Medium, was the subject — a few years since — of manifestations, the marvel 
of which has resounded through many countries of the earth. 

The Calcutta Indian Daily News publishes in its issue of January 28th, 
1882, the following striking communication concerning Mr. Eglinton's 
Mediumship :— 

" To the Editor of the Indian Daily News. 

" Sir, — In your issue of the 13th January, I stated that I should be glad of an oppor- 
tunity of participating in a seance with a view of giving an unbiased opinion as to whether, 
in my capacity of a professional Prestidigitateur, I could give a natural explanation of 
effects said to be produced by spiritual aid. 



214 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Eglinton, the Spiritualistic Medium now in 
Calcutta, and of his host, Mr. J. Meugens, for affording me the opportunity I craved. 

■' It is needless to say I went as a sceptic ; but I must own that I have come away 
utterly unable to explain, by any natural means, the phenomena that I witnessed on 
Tuesday evening. I will give a brief clescription of what took place : — 

" I was seated in a brilliantly-lighted room with Mr. Eglinton and Mr. Meugens. We 
took our places round a common teak- wood table, and after a few minutes the table began 
to sway violently backwards and forwards, and I heard noises such as might be produced 
by some one thumping under the table. I tried to discover the cause of this movement, 
but was unable to do so. After this Mr. Eglinton produced two common school slates, 
which I sponged, cleaned, and rubbed dry with a towel myself. Mr. Eglinton then 
handed me a box containing small crumbs of slate-pencil. I selected one of these and in 
accordance with Mr. Eglinton's directions, placed it on the surface of one of the slates, 
placing the other slate over it. I then firmly grasped the two slates at one of the corners. 
Mr. Eglinton then held the other corner, our two free hands being clasped together. The 
slates were then lowered below the edge of the table, but remained in full view (the room 
remaining lighted all the time). Instantaneously I heard a scratching noise, as might be 
produced by writing on a slate. In about fifteen seconds I heard three distinct knocks on 
the slates, and I then opened them and found the following writing : 

" ' My name is Geary. Don't you remember me ? We used to talk of this matter at 
the St. George's. I know better now." 

" Having read the above, I remarked that I knew of no one by the name of Geary. 

" We then placed our hands on the table, and Mr. Eglinton commenced repeating the 
alphabet until he came to the letter ' G,' when the table began to shake violently. This 
process was repeated till the name of Geary was spelt. 

" After this Mr. Eglinton took a piece of paper and a pencil, and with a convulsive 
movement, difficult to describe, he wrote very indistinctly the following words : 

" ' I am Alfred Geary, of the Lantern ; you know me and St. Ledger.' 

" Having read this, I suddenly remembered having met both Mr. Geary and Mr. 
St. Ledger at Cape Town, South Africa, about four years ago, and the St. George's Hotel 
is the one I lived at there. Mr. Geary was the editor of the Cwpe Lantern, I believe he 
died some three years ago. Mr. St. Ledger was the editor of the Cape Times, and I believe 
is so stUl. Without going into details, I may mention that subsequently a number of 
other messages were written on the slates, which I was allowed, to clean each time before 
they were used. 

" In respect to the above manifestations I can only say that I do not expect my 
account of them to gaia general credence. Forty-eight hours before, I should not have 
believed any one who had described such manifestations under similar circumstances. I 
still remain a sceptic as regards Spiritualism, but I repeat my inability to explain or 
account for what must have been an intelligent force, that produced the writing on the 
slate, which, if my senses are to be relied on, was in no way the result of trickery or 
sleight-of-hand. — Yours, &c., " Hakbt Kellab. 

" Calcutta, January 25th, 1882." 

Without commenting on the illogical position assumed, not alone by 
Mr. Kellar, but by hundreds of others who are compelled to admit both the 
supra-mundane character of the phenomena and intelligence displayed, and 
then wind up by denying emphatically that " either can be Spirits," it is 
enough to say that Mr. Kellar, the professional conjurer, duplicates the 
assurance of his Italian confrere, Signor Bellachini, in respect to Mr. Slade's 
manifestations at Leipzig. When two thoroughly skilled professional jugglers 
acknowledge that they cannot simulate by trickery, the demonstrations 
performed through Media without any trickery, is it not time that the 
flimsy pretence of Spiritual phenomena being all trickery and fraud, 
should be abandoned by travelling exposers, even though the petty set of 
shams they exhibit, of which any tenth rate juggler would be ashamed, 
were patronized by Scottish Lord Provosts and English Right Reverend 
Lord Bishops ? 

Another remarkably-endowed Medium for physical manifestations who 
has till recently exercised her Mediumship successfully in many parts of 
England is Miss Wood, a young lady who was developed in private circles 
at Newcasde-on-Tyne, and subsequently became professionally engaged 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 215 

by the " Newcastle Spiritual Evidence Society," to give seances at their 
rooms for "form materializations." During her sittings with the Newcastle 
Society, Miss Wood cheerfully submitted to the most exacting tests, and 
amongst the numerous testimonials that were rendered to the integrity of 
her Mediumship, are the following — the first being from Mr. H. Kersey, 
then Secretary to the Society, and the other from the well-known scientist, 
Mr. T. P. Barkas, F.G.S. 

Mr. Kersey says, in writing to the Medium^ Oct. 25th, 1878 : — 

" This morning, Oct. 20, I had the pleasure of witnessing some very convincing form 
manifestations through the medial power of Miss C. E. Wood, at the Newcastle society's 
rooms. I will spare unnecessary detail, and shortly say that the cabinet, which con- 
sisted of a curtain suspended across the corner of the room, was inspected by myself and 
others, both previous to and after the seance. The medium sat outside the cabinet in full 
view of all the sitters, numbering nineteen, tbe whole of the time, and was_ never once 
out of their sight. Three forms successively appeared, the first a woman, who, after 
several efforts, walked out of the cabinet and passed around the medium, and re-entered 
the cabinet on the other side of her. At the solicitation of the sitters she repeated this. 
The next form was a child, who came out of the cabinet, and succeeded in getting about 
two feet clear of the medium, but could not get around her. The last form was a large 
one, that of a man, but did not succeed in getting far out. 

" ' Pocka ' controlled and spoke through the medium whilst the last two forms were 
out. Now the value of this to me. Sir, is that I never lost sight of the medium from first 
to last, and I am certain none of the sitters left their seats and went into the cabinet. 
I am, Sir, yours truly, 

" Newcastle-on-Tyne. " H. A. Kjebset. 

" We, the undersigned, testify to the correctness of the above report : — 

" John Hare, Chester Crescent. 

" Martha Hare, „ 

" Nellie Hare, „ 

" H. Norris, 59, Newgate Street. 

" E. Sanderson, „ 

" Jane Hammarbon, Northumberland Street. 

" Jno. Mould, 12, St. Thomas Crescent. 

" James Cameron, Gallowgate Steam Mills. 

" W. C. Robson, 8, Brandling Place." 

Mr. Barkas, writing to the same paper about a year previously, gives a 
slight account of Spiritualism in Newcastle and the formation of the first 
society there. He says : — 

" Spiritualism had been investigated in Newcastle-on-Tyne for twenty-five years. 
Prior to 1872 tbe manifestations had taken place in private houses and before select 
circles. In that year a society was formed for the investigation of the phenomena, and 
in a few months several members of the society became developed as mediums. In the 
year 1873 it was discovered that two yoimg ladies had very great mediamistic power. 
The one. Miss Wood, was at that time eighteen years of age, and the other, Miss Fairlamb, 
was about a year younger. For some trifling remuneration as a compensation for much 
time spent in the interests of the society, the young women devoted themselves to the 
work, and soon there were not only trance controls, but extraordinary movements of 
tables, chairs, bells, and other articles of furniture and musical instruments took place in 
the dark, under test conditions. In 1874 spectral forms of human faces and hands pre- 
sented themselves at the openings of the cabinet in which the mediums were enclosed. 
Then fully developed forms ; and, to make certain of the genuineness of these phenomena, 
private seances were organised in the houses of well known gentlemen. Rigid but friendly 
tests of many kinds were tried, and the result was that materialisations took place, which 
nothing but a stubborn prejudice, perfectly inaccessible to the logic of facts, could resist 
or gainsay. 

" I have seen through the mediumship of Miss Wood, in a private house, living forms 
walk from the curtained recess, which it was utterly impossible for her to simulate. I 
have seen children, women, and men of various ages, walk forth under her mediumship. 



2i6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

I have seen a materialised form and the medium at the same time. I have had through 
her mediumship a child-like form standing beside me for about half an hour together ; 
the child has placed its arms around my neck, and permitted me at the same time to 
place my arm around her neck, and has laid its cheek against miue, breathed upon my 
face, and, in f^ct, caressed me precisely as a child would do its parent or guardian. This 
was not in darkness, but in light, and in the presence of professors and fellows of one of 
the leading universities in the kingdom. I have, under these conditions, and after having 
handled the psychic form, seen it gradually vanish or dematerialisej and become invisible 
in the middle of the room." 

A full and elaborate account of Miss Wood and the phenomena occurring 
in her presence has been published in pamphlet form by W. P. Adshead, 
Esq., of Belper, a wealthy and intelligent gentleman, who sent for Miss 
Wood to his own house, wherein he set up a wire cage, constructed for the 
purpose, in which the Medium, firmly secured, was placed, during a given 
number of experimental seances. 

The marvellous phenomena of many different materialized forms appear- 
ing under these circumstances, is fully detailed by Mr. Adshead, but as the 
manifestations present little or no variety in effect from those already 
alluded to, it would be unnecessary to describe them any further. We 
would commend Mr. Adshead's methods, however, to the attention of the 
various contending parties who now make the subject of "tests" the theme 
of warfare — the one side alleging that tests " degrade the Medium," and 
"ruin the conditions under which spirits manifest;" the other equally 
pertinaciously insisting that no Medium should claim credence for extra- 
ordinary or unusual occurrences without tests of the most crucial and con- 
vincing character. Miss Wood was Mr. Adshead's guest for some time. 
The manifestations were given in his own house, in the presence of scores 
of the most inveterate sceptics, and under the extraordinary conditions 
stated above. 

Yet Miss Wood felt no degradation in submitting to the tests imposed, 
and often invited them, nor did they spoil or even interfere with the mani- 
festations, numerous attestations to that effect being given and signed by 
the parties who attended the seances. The following paragraph, taken from 
page 24 of Mr. Adshead's pamphlet, offers perhaps what the world would 
deem one of the most striking proofs that can be rendered of Mr. Adshead's 
unassailable position in reference to these manifestations. Be says : — 

" For the medium to liberate herself from her bondage, and place herself in such a 
position that, had she the necessary skill and appliances, she could represent the different 
forms we had looked upon, and then return to the condition in which we left her — the 
cage, tapes, and seals being found as when the seance commenced — would, to me, be almost 
as great a marvel as anything else which could be done. Indeed, so profoundly impressed 
am I with the impossibility of this being done, that unless those who have boasted that 
it is their mission to stamp out the ' imposture of Spiritualism,' of ' their great charity,' 
are moved to take the scales from our eyes, I have to say, I am prepared to write a cheque 
for two hundred and fifty guineas, and my friend, Mr. A. Smedley, will write one for a 
similar amount, and the five hundeed guineas shall at once be paid to any person who 
will, under similar conditions to those described above, produce phenomena which shall in 
all respects be like those of which I have just spoken, and so distinctly explain the method 
by which they are produced that the person to whom the method is made known, or any 
other person or persons to whom, in turn, the said method may be made known, will be 
able at any time, or in any place, to produce exactly the same kind of phenomena as those 
which appeared when Miss Wood was screwed up in the cage. If, as is claimed, the 
marvels are simply clever conjuring, the above conditions will not be regarded as too 
stringent. It is also to be understood that those who accept this challenge forfeit a like 
sum in the event of failing to produce the phenomena under the conditions named above." 

Despite all the blatant pretensions of conjurers and their clerical sup' 
porters, Mr. Adshead's cheque so freely proferred, still remains unclaimed. 




LE Due DE MEDINA POMAR. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 217 

In Cardiff, South Wales, for several years past, circles have been held by 
a party of earnest Spiritualists, amongst whom was developed Mr. Spriggs, 
a non-professional Medium for the production of " form materiahzations." 
As Mr. Spriggs is now in Australia, placing his phenomenal powers at the 
service of the " Victorian Association of Spirituahsts," we reserve all 
further accounts of his demonstrations for our Australian section. 

In the direction of healing, there are still a much larger number of 
excellent phenomenal individuals engaged, than we have space to particu- 
larize. Not one of the least remarkable, is Mrs. Illingworth, the celebrated 
seeress and medical trance Medium of Bradford, Yorkshire. Although 
entirely uneducated, and the wife of a plain Yorkshire mechanic, this 
wonderful clairvoyant can trace — even by a lock of hair taken from the 
head of strangers at any distance — the most obscure diseases, prescribing 
under the influence of medical Spirits the most effective remedies for all 
complaints of a curable nature. And good Mrs Illingworth is only cited 
as a representative of many others whose beneficent labours are carried 
forward with eminent success throughout the North of England. Another 
of these highly gifted seers practises in the immediate vicinity of the 
author's residence near Manchester, and scores of Nicodemuses who would 
treat the openly avowed claim of Spiritual influence with holy horror or 
scornful derision, resort privately to Mr. Edward Gallagher* to be treated 
for complaints that baffle all the skill of the faculty — even to trace out — 
much less to cure. Many are the laudations that the author hears passed 
upon this quiet unassuming gentleman, who as a "clairvoyant" is 
permitted to describe hidden diseases and cure them by occult power, 
until his fame fills the country round and attracts even the sacred presence 
of the very " divines " who devote their next Sabbath's sermons to 
unsparing diatribes against the impious practices of Spiritualism. 

In the metropohs, Dr. Mack, the renowned Spiritual healer ; Mr. 
Younger, the fine mesmerist; Mr. and Mrs. Hagon, Mr. Omerin, and Mr. 
Hawkins, all pursue their beneficent work with many a secret blessing, 
and many a public ban, as the reward of their services. These are all 
professional healers and their services are offered, and their addresses 
registered in the Medium, and that, much to the scandal of those who 
would cheerfully pay their twenty guineas to a solemn-visaged physician 
who gives a rough guess, and often an erroneous one, at the seat of their 
disease, and yet shrink with horror at the idea of paying a modest fee to 
the clairvoyant and healer because the truths they tell, and the relief they 
impart, are " the gifts of God, and should not be made the subject of 
mercenary traffic." And thus it is, that w^hen capable Mediums, and highly 
gifted seers and seeresses are starved out of their spheres of usefulness, and 
the sound of their good report is hushed, and for very sordid need of bread 
they are driven to abandon their Mediumistic calling, the world cries 
" See how this delusion of SpirituaHsm has died out," and the Pharisees 
rejoice that they have succeeded in " crushing out professional Mediumship.' 



Mr. E. Gallagher, Greenfield Villa, Bloomfield Road, Heaton Chapel, Manchester. 



2i8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN GREAT BRITAIN (CONCLUDED). 

In the Provinces. 

Since it has been the custom to create an aristocracy of places as well as 
of classes ; to talk of London as the geographical apex from whence the 
traveller goes down to every part of England, whether to the north or 
south ; it has also followed, that prestige in every direction must originate 
in the metropolis, in order to fall into line with the subservience of public 
opinion. 

Whether the immense growth of many of the large provincial towns 
justifies this traditionary reverence for metropolitan lead, we do not care to 
enquire. Certain it is, that Spiritualism is one of the iconoclasts, that has 
boldly defied this proscriptive deference to " the hub " of the British 
kingdom, for it has taken a far deeper hold on the common sense and 
intelligence of thoughtful minds, and exercised a far wider influence on the 
masses in the provinces, than it has done in the great Modern Babylon. 

Whether this may be considered matter of praise or blame, the Modern 
Babylonians themselves may determine ; the fact remains nevertheless, and 
we are now about to speak in illustration of this position, by citing the ex- 
periences of individuals as well as societies, who have only as yet attained 
to the distinction of being classified as provincial Spiritualists. 

At the beautiful estate of Parkfield, Didsbury, near Manchester, till quite 
recently, resided Mr. Charles Blackburn, a gendeman who by his unnumbered 
acts of private and public munificence, has exerted a widespread influence 
upon the growth of English Spiritualism. Whilst there are but few of the 
leading Spiritualists who have not become familiar with the lineaments of 
his kind cheery face, and exchanged pleasant greetings with him in circles, 
social gatherings, and beneath his own hospitable roof, there are not many 
who know as well as the author, how much the cause of Spiritualism is 
indebted to Mr. Blackburn for timely aid in periods of trial. 

Mr. Blackburn's generous contributions were the chief support of the 
excellent periodical entitled The London Spiritualist. Professor Crookes in 
the closing Hues of his authoritative work, entitled " Phenomena of 
SpirituaHsm," when writing of his experiences with the celebrated Medium, 
Miss Florence Cook, says : — 

" My thanks, and those of all Spiritualists, are also due to Mr. Charles Blackburn, 
for the generous manner in which he has made it possible for Miss Cook to devote her 
whole time to the development of these manifestations, and latterly to their scientific 
examination." 

Few and simple as these words are, their significance is immense to those 
who follow out in detail, experiments which have obtained a world-wide 
celebrity, and are still of the highest authority as scientific testimony. 

Had Mr. Charles Blackburn's munificence taken no other shape than 
that of upholding the usefulness of a fine Spiritual journal, and enabhng 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 219 

Professor Crookes, and through him, the entire generation, to profit by the 
wonderful Mediumship of a young lady in Hmited circumstances, this 
Manchester gentleman has done enough. But the waymarks of Mr. 
Blackburn's good services are to be found in many other directions — 
amongst scores of poor Mediums, and struggling societies whom he has 
aided. The investigator will remember him for the ingenious machines 
for weighing " materialized " Spirits which he has had constructed ; in the 
famous Newcastle " Blackburn Cabinet," and all the associative efforts to 
which his name has been given, and on which his benefactions have been 
bestowed. 

Family cares and bereavements have thickened around this worthy 
gentleman's path of late, and compelled his withdrawal from the scenes in 
which he has so long and faithfully laboured, but he carries with him into 
his retirement, a philosophy which will be a quenchless light in the darkest 
hour of trial, whilst he leaves behind him " on the sands of time " footprints 
of good, that can never be erased from the grateful memories of men or 
the imperishable records of eternity. 

Another of the brave "provincial" Spiritualists, whose fearless advocacy 
has " helped to shake the world," is Mr. John Fowler, of St. Ann's, Sefton 
Park, Liverpool, a gentleman whose wealth, and influence, have been 
freely devoted to the advancement of the Spiritual cause. 

Mr. Fowler's name became memorable in the first instance, by the 
uncompromising faith in Spirit power which led him to stake the sum of 
one thousand pounds, against the ability of one Cumberland — an itinerant 
conjurer and " exposer of Spiritualism " — to imitate by trickery, the manifes- 
tations which are produced by Spirit power alone, through Mediums. It 
need hardly be stated, that Cumberland, like the rest of his craft, had taken 
ample care to make his appearance as an "exposer," just at the time when 
there were no public Mediums at hand to compete with him. As it is well 
known that very few Mediums are so peculiarly endowed as to be able to 
meet large heterogeneous audiences, or furnish the force necessary for 
Spirits to produce phenomena requiring the most finely balanced psycho- 
logical conditions in the rude arenas of public antagonism, so Cumberland 
could safely retort Mr. Fowler's challenge, with the counter demand to 
place his Mediums and Spiritual manifestations on the same platform with 
his (Cumberland's) alleged exposures. 

As this very indifferent trickster was actually supported by the Lord 
Bishop of Liverpool, and, besides a right reverend chairman, claimed and 
advertised the " moral support " of hosts of other clergymen and church 
dignitaries, who, it thereby appeared, had been unable to find any other 
means of putting down the beh noir of their cloth — Spiritualism — so Mr. 
Fowler, perhaps moved to a higher concern for the honour of his " Dio- 
cesan," than that right reverend gentleman manifested for himself, addressed 
a letter to his Lordship through the public journals, advising him that he 
was only being made a tool of by an indifferent conjurer, and that the petty 
tricks Cumberland could display, bore no sort of relation to the manifold 
and inimitable phenomena produced by Spirits. 

Encouraged by the rich harvest which the poorest tricksters can reap 
from the " moral support " of English bishops and clergy when they come 
before the public under the pretence of destroying that cause which a 
whole bench of bishops could not otherwise assail, soon after Cumberland's 
disappearance from the scene, still another "exposer" hastened to Liverpool 
to secure its clerical patronage and pocket the coin of its gullible citizens. 



2 20 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The new " exposer " was Irving Bishop, of American notoriety. Once 
again Mr. Fowler tried by the offer of the thousand pounds bait to tempt 
this adventurer into exposing anything that Spirits could do, under precisely 
similar conditions. This time the trickster's chairman and "moral supporter" 
was the Rev. J. H. Skewes, a clergyman of the Church of England, who 
after Bishop had utterly failed to expose anything but the credulity of his 
audiences, changed the base of his attack to his pulpit, where he treated 
his congregation to a succession of sermons on the demoniac character of 
Spiritual manifestations in the nineteenth century, and their angelic nature 
thousands of years ago, in illustration of which, amongst other notable 
instances of divine power, he cited the case of Jonah's living in the " cold, 
damp, and uncomfortable habitation of the whale's interior for three days 
and three nights." 

Although there were few platform orators of any standing in the ranks of 
Spiritualism, who would not have desired to measure swords with an 
antagonist of a somewhat different description to the Rev. J. H. Skewes, 
Mr. Fowler's determination to put clerical assumptions to the test, was 
indomitable, and as the author of this volume was engaged periodically to 
lecture for the SpirituaUsts of Liverpool, Mr. Fowler caused answers to Mr. 
Skewes to be announced, for two successive Sunday evenings, by Mrs. 
Britten. Mr. Fowler then, by a series of letters published in the Liver- 
pool papers, endeavoured to induce the reverend opponent to meet Mrs. 
Britten in public debate. Finding all his attempts in this direction 
only met with repeated evasions, Mr. Fowler requested Mrs. Britten to 
write out the replies given to Mr Skewes, the authenticity of which could 
be easily tested by the witness of the immense audiences assembled to hear 
them. 

These replies were subsequently published in several papers, and by the 
liberality of Mr. Fowler, thousands of copies were scattered broadcast 
through various English-speaking countries. 

The special circumstances which called forth these lectures, were stated 
in an introductory note which is republished below, as the final conclusion 
of the whole matter :— 

" MRS. HARDINGE BRITTEN AND THE REV. J. H. SKEWES. 

" By information received from my Spiritualistic friends in Liverpool, I learn that the 
faith they profess, and of which I am one of the public exponents, has been repeatedly 
attacked by certain members of the clergy of that city, in sermons denunciatory of 
Spiritualism, and by the openly avowed ' moral support ' rendered to those travelling 
conjurers who profess by the exhibition of a few clumsy tricks to imitate and explain the 
modus operandi of Spiritual phenomena. The last, and, as I understand, the most per- 
tinacious of the clerical assailants above named, is a ' Rev. J. H. Skewes.' 

"Within the last few weeks, two sermons have been delivered by this gentleman, 
reported in a paper called the Protestant Standard, under the several (editorial) titles of 
' Death-Blow to Spiritualism,' and ' Spiritualism in its Coffin ! — Nailing Down the Lid ! ! ' 
It being the desire of my committee in Liverpool that I should answer these discourses, I 
proceeded to do so in two lectures, given at Rodney Hall, on the Sunday evenings of 
February 18th and March 4th, 1883. 

" As Mr. Skewes stated in his second sermon that there were still many points in 
Spiritualism that he had not noticed, my committee followed up my lectures by 
challenging him to debate the subject with me on a public platform, on conditions 
honourable to him and beneficial to the charities of Liverpool. In answer to the 
repeated invitations to accept this challenge, addressed to Mr. Skewes both by public and 
private correspondence, the reverend gentleman declines, on the ground that he has had 
no fair report of my Answers to his Sermons. 

" As the only report that has been given of my lectures is a series of paragraphs, headed 
* Howlings from the Pit,' put forth by the Protestant Standard, a report which is not 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 221 

only interpolated by rude and unworthy personal remarks, but is most imperfect, and 
scarcely touches on half the matter contained in my first lectures, my committee have 
urged Mr. Skewes to debate the subject of Spiritualism either from the stand-points 
assumed in his sermons, or any fresh ones he might be able to allege against the 
Spiritual movement. As Mr. Skewes continues to base his refusal upon the absence of 
any authentic report of my Answer to his Sermons, I deem it my duty to the cause I 
represent, to place my Answer to Mr. Skewes's attack on record, and in such a form as 
cannot be mistaken. It is with this view that I put the annexed statements before the 
tribunal of public opinion. 

" Before entering upon my task, I wish it distinctly understood that I make no pro- 
fession to repeat, except in general terms, the lectures given by me at Rodney Hall, in 
answer to Mr. Skewes's sermons. I am not ashamed to avow that I speak in public under 
the inspiration of those whom I deem to be good spirits, whose wisdom supplies me with 
the ideas most appropriate to the occasion, and whose power far transcends my own to 
meet the demands which the spiritual rostrum makes upon me. Under these conditions 
I find it impossible to recall my lectures by memory, or to transcribe them, as they were 
originally delivered. 

" The following Answer will, however, embody the sum of the arguments before used, 
and I have only to add, that, for any further elucidation of the question at issue, I still hold 
myself ready to meet Mr. Skewes in public discussion, under such conditions as may be 
agreed upon between him and my Liverpool Committee of Spiritualists. 

"Emma Haedinge Britten." 

It must be added that the lectures referred to, being a complete expo- 
sition of what Spiritualism is— and what it is not.^ Mr. Skewes's action, 
supplemented by Mr. John Fowler's indomitable enterprise, has undoubtedly 
aided in bringing Spiritualism to the notice of vast numbers of the com- 
munity who would otherwise have remained in profound ignorance of its 
verities. 

Mr. Fowler also was the only individual, outside the ranks of the clergy, 
privileged to bear testimony to the faith of Spiritualism, before the English 
Church Congress, held in 1881, at Newcastle-on-Tyne. On this occasion, 
one or two of the clerical speakers present bore witness to the tone and 
temper of the times, by speaking unreservedly in favour of Spiritualism, 
whilst others exhibited the rancour and bitterness which this all too popular 
element had excited, by vituperation of a high ecclesiastical order. 

Whilst we could wish that Mr. Fowler's necessarily brief but compen- 
dious paper could be read by thinkers of every shade of faith, we can only 
find space for the following excerpts from his brave utterances : — 

" Every man must observe the present indifferent state of the intelligent public to the 
service and doctrines of the Church. Those who have had opportunities of observing the 
intellectual state of the country say that infidelity is on the increase. Now, what does 
the Church propose to do in this matter ? Of its seriousness proof is offered by the fact 
of this discussion. Until the facts of spiritual existence have been demonstrated, like 
Peter, who denied his Master, we want evidence, and, like Thomas, we want to put our 
fingers into the prints of the nails. If demonstration was needed to establish the faith in 
the hearts of the disciples, demonstration is as much needed to-day, to establish its claims 
in the experience of the present generation. The fabric cannot be maintained. It will 
fall to pieces without the interior leavening power of the Spirit. Narrow creeds and 
ceremonies cannot impose on and influence for ever the minds of men. Therefore, Modern 
Spiritualism has appeared as a Divine necessity of the times. It does not come to destroy 
the law and the prophets, but to establish that which came aforetime, and to make the 
possibilities of spiritual growth and strength in the heart of man more possible. . . . 

" Therefore we say that a case has been made out on behalf of Modern Spiritualism to 
be recognised and utilised by the Church itself, that it may become strong to defeat its 
own doubts, and, in the full reliance of its hope, do battle with the hard foes who deny 
the immortality of the soul. If Spiritualists do not universally retain their allegiance to 
the doctrines of the Church of England, it matters but very little. The Church, by 
fairly and squarely investigating the alleged facts, will bring together into one focus 
philosophers and thinkers who otherwise might have remained outside the pale of the 
Church. To shelve the question by saying that Spiritualism is an imposition displays 
either presumption or ignorance," . . . 



222 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 

The example above given of Mr. Fowler's address, is sufficient to 
demonstrate its admirable lines of argument. The effect produced upon 
the community has been marked and healthful. A far more respectful 
sentiment has been manifested towards Spiritualism by the thinking classes, 
since the Church Congress was in session, whilst the impulse given to the 
cause in Liverpool, is sufficiently proved by the large numbers who gather 
together each Sunday to attend the Spiritualists' services. For the present 
these meetings are held in Rodney Hall, under the management of an 
efficient committee, and the presidency of John Lamont, Esq., a gentleman 
held in the highest estimation by all classes of his fellow-citizens, besides 
being a seer and inspirational speaker of remarkable power. Mrs. Hardinge 
Britten is the regular lecturer of the Society for two Sundays in each month 
during the present season ; Mr. W. J. Colville, from America, Mr. and 
Mrs. Wallis, Mrs. Groom and other speakers of pronounced excellence 
filling the rostrum on alternate Sundays. 

In Belper, Derbyshire, the Spiritualists enjoy the privilege of holding 
their Sunday services in the pleasant and commodious hall built, and 
generously placed at the disposal of his Spiritualist friends and associates, 
by Mr. W. P. Adshead, the gentleman before mentioned in connection 
with Miss Wood's seances. 

The kindly sentiments which prevail amongst the Spiritualists of Belper, 
and the many acts of beneficence towards the poor which are practised 
in their hall, fill the place with a high and holy influence, and fittingly 
consecrate it to the ministry of angels, on earth as in heaven. 

In Bradford, Yorkshire, a large and zealous society of working men 
and women have combined to hire a good hall, which they entitle the 
Walton Street Church, and here, as in Belper, the exalting influence of a 
specially-consecrated place, and the effect of well conducted and orderly 
services is felt by every sensitive who visits the meetings. Two other 
well attended meetings are held every Sunday in Bradford, besides what 
may be emphatically called " mass meetings " in one of the largest halls in 
the town, when the author, or other speakers from a distance, are engaged, 
by the energetic and self-sacrificing Bradford Spiritualists. 

A special hall has also been built and devoted to the Spiritual Sunday 
services, at Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire, where a fine and well-trained choir 
of young people adds the charm of excellent singing to the elevating 
influences which pervade the place. 

Those who, like the author, have realised with painful sensibility the 
injurious or favourable effects produced by the different places where 
Spiritual services are conducted, will be ready to join with her in the 
fervent wish that wealthy Spiritualists would emulate the example of good 
Mr, Adshead, and provide in every town and hamlet of Great Britain a 
true Spiritual home for the people, and a fitting scene in which to invite 
the angels to come and participate in holy Spiritual exercises. If there be 
any truth in Spiritual revelations at all, those who would make such an 
use of the means committed to their stewardship on earth, would certainly 
find that they had been 

" Fitting up a mansion 
Which eternally will stand." 

In Leeds, Halifax, Keighley, Bradford, and nearly all the principal towns 
and villages of Yorkshire, well conducted Sunday meetings are held, some- 
times aided by renowned speakers from a distance, but in general ministered 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 223 

to by resident Mediums, most of whom — under trance conditions — 
give discourses far beyond the average of their normal capacity. The 
speakers are for the most part such devoted men and women as good 
faithful Joseph Armitage of Batley Carr ; Mrs. Dobson, Mrs. Illingworth ; 
Misses Hance, Shipley, and Harrison ; Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Greig ; Messrs. 
Wilson Oliffe, Blackburn, and many others too numerous to mention. 
All these are working people, toiling during the week in their several 
vocations, but giving cheerfully, without stint, and often at the cost of 
labour and fatigue to themselves, their best service every Sunday to plat- 
form utterances, and that most commonly with little or no remunera- 
tion. 

In the meantime, such noble gentlemen as Mr. John Culpan of Halifax, 
a Spiritual veteran who for thirty years has given means, untiring service, 
and an honoured name to the advancement of the cause. Mr. B. Lees, 
Mr. John Ilhngworth, Mr. Etchells, of Huddersfield, David Richmond, the 
veteran Spiritualist of Darlington, Dr. Brown, of Burnley, Mr. Foster, of 
Preston, good John Harwood, of Littleborough, and Peter Lee, of Roch- 
dale, splendid representatives of Yorkshire and Lancashire Spiritualism — 
these, and hosts of others, with not a few faithful and zealous ladies, devote 
themselves by purse and person to the best Interests of humanity through 
the noble cause of Spiritualism. 

In a crowded record of this character, many a good and honoured name 
must necessarily be omitted, but none can doubt that they are all engraved 
in the imperishable types of the higher life to which their noble services so 
effectually point the way. 

In Newcastle-on-Tyne, the residence of the esteemed scientist T. P. 
Barkas, a " Spiritual Evidence Society" has been formed, which has done 
good service by maintaining Sunday meetings, and promoting seances for 
the culture of Spiritual gifts, and the investigation of phenomena. 

It was at these circles that Miss Wood — the celebrated physical medium 
mentioned in a former chapter — was developed. 

The Newcastle Society has moreover exercised a fostering influence upon 
that large section of country in the vicinity, devoted to the industries of 
coal mining. Here, as in Yorkshire, local Mediums and trance speakers 
keep alive the interest of their various districts, with addresses which produce 
a deep and favourable impression on their listeners. 

The author has herself visited two or three of these collieries, and was 
deeply moved by the sight of the earnest-looking sons of toil massed in 
serried groups around her. When no strangers visit them, they are 
addressed by some of the inspirational speakers who abound in these 
districts. One of the most eloquent, sincere, and popular lecturers of the 
Northumberland meetings is Mr. Henry Burton, a good and true man, 
whose life and preaching are both well calculated to demonstrate the exal- 
ting influence of Spirit teachings. 

The large manufacturing county of Lancashire, though by no means as 
thickly studded with zealous Spiritual communities as Yorkshire or Northum- 
berland, is nevertheless a stronghold of the faith. Liverpool has already been 
noticed ; meantime Rochdale, Oldham, Manchester, Burnley, Blackburn, 
and numerous other places of importance maintain Sunday meetings, where 
vast multitudes Hsten with profound interest to the consoling doctrines of 
Spiritualism, taught by the zealous local Mediums who are to be found in 
those districts. 

In the last named place, Blackburn, a large and busy manufacturing 



. 224 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

town, the author was instrumental in forming the excellent " Psychological 
Society," which now holds regular Sunday meetings there. 

After the occasion of Mrs. Britten's first visit, the secretary of the 
Society sent a report to the Medium which is reprinted for the sake of 
the declaration of principles it contains — one which might be profitably 
adopted by other religious societies besides the Spiritualists of Blackburn. 
Our correspondent says : — 

" Spiritualism is looking up at present in Blackburn. During the last few months we 
have had Mrs. Britten two Sundays occupying the platform of the Exchange : afternoon 
and evening each visit. The room will hold from 1,200 to 1,800 people, and was packed 
at each of the four lectures. . . . 

" We have also opened rooms for Sunday evening lectures, at the School of Science. 
There seem to be plenty of fresh faces every Sunday come to listen to what is said. We 
have a very nice meeting room, and best of all is, that everything is paid for ; we mind 
that, whatever comes or goes not to run in debt. We are very strong Trinitarians, but 
the Trinity we believe in is, ' One God ; no Devil, and twenty shillings to the pound.' 

" We feel confident if we only had real good speakers like Mrs. Britten, we could 
without any fear take the Exchange every Sunday. We make no charge for tickets or 
admission, but trust to the voluntary offerings of the people, and strange to say that 
although not making much more than bare expenses, we have never come short of meeting 
the expenses. The people are thhsting for more knowledge on the subject ; the pity is 
we have no one to give them the knowledge. — Yours, etc., 

"R. WOLSTBNHOLME," 

In Macclesfield, an earnest and united Society of believers in Spiritualism 
have hired and furnished a pleasant little hall, where services are generally 
conducted by the Rev. Adam Rushton, an estimable gentleman, formerly 
a Unitarian Minister, but one who gave up sect, and even the goodwill of 
friends and kindred, to throw in his lot with those who believed in the faith 
of which he became convinced, and to which, in his modest and unosten- 
tatious way, he gives his life and able services. 

A similarly self-sacrificing profession of the Spiritual faith has been made 
by the Rev. Mr. Stoddart of Middlesboro', near Stockton-on-Tees. This 
gentleman was also an Unitarian Minister, but one whose persecutions for 
the sake of his faith have not as yet, been attended with a setdement as 
peaceful as that which Mr, Rushton finds in his little Macclesfield Society. 
Mr. Stoddart however is bound to make his mark, and the good angels 
he serves have obviously not forgotten their charge over their faithful soldier. 

In Nottingham, Mr. Wm. Yates, a gentleman of fine culture, and indom- 
itable energy, together with a few ladies and gendemen of superior 
intellectual attainments, have struggled bravely to sustain an unsectarian 
representation of Spiritualism. Mr. Yates has also commenced the practice 
of medical electricity combined with magnetism, under the direction of 
beneficent healing Spirits, and report speaks in enthusiastic terms of the 
brilliant conquests he is effecting over otherwise incurable forms of disease. 

In Birmingham, resides Mrs. Groom, an indefatigable trance speaker, 
healer, and seeress, who adds to her interesting Sunday lectures, the faculty 
of seeing and describing the spirit friends of persons in her audience. The 
labours of this excellent Medium have effected an immense amount of good 
in the places she visits. 

In Birmingham, Walsall, Leicester, and other Midland towns and 
villages, small Sunday meetings are held, which promise, with good speakers 
and good maiiagement, to swell to large gatherings. 

In the West and South of England, less public evidence of progress is 
demonstrable, although there are many places where it is generally known 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 225 

that good Spiritual meetings have been held, and large numbers of private 
circles are in session. 

One of the most prosperous Spiritual societies in the South-west of 
England, is that established at Plymouth, where many private circles are 
held, and regular Sunday services are at present conducted with great 
acceptance by Mr. Clarke, an excellent inspirational speaker. 

The formation of the Plymouth Society, as well as much of the good 
work which it has achieved, is due to the labours of the Rev. C. Ware, but 
as this gentleman's experience is modestly narrated in his own statement 
recently published in the Society's report of their first anniversary cele- 
bration, we cannot do better than give the account which we find printed 
in a recent issue of Light, and which is to the following effect : — 

"PLYMOUTH. — THE FREE SPIRITUAL SOCIETY. 

" The Free Spiritual Society of Plymouth last evening celebrated its anniversary at 
Richmond Hall, Richmond Street, it being exactly twelve months since its origin. The 
Rev. C. Ware, having laboured for two years in this town as a minister of one of the 
Methodist bodies, was suspended in January of last year on account of his belief in 
Spiritualism ; but a number of persons holding similar views having formed themselves 
into a Society, invited him to become their minister, in which capacity he has since 
acted. The Society during the year has considerably increased its membership and 
extended its operations, and now claims to enjoy the patronage, sympathy, and support 
of many influential friends beyond its formal membership. The proceedings last evening 
afi'orded a fair indication that the community is in a flourishing condition ; about eighty 
sat down to tea, and at the public meeting that followed, presided over by Mr W. T. 
Rossiter, of Torquay, addresses were delivered by several gentlemen from the town and 
neighbourhood. Several mediums also toi.k part in the meeting. 

" The Rev. C. Ware, after making reference to the general aspects of Spiritualism, 
said it was pretty well known that he had laboured in this town for two years as a 
minister of one of the Methodist bodies. During that time he became acquainted with 
Spiritualism, and at the outset it presented itself to him as an astounding and glorious 
reality. Because he would not deny what he knew to be the truth, and forego the study 
of the profoundest subject that could occupy the mind of man, he was suspended from the 
denominational pulpit. There were those, however, who refused to submit to ecclesiastical 
tyranny and mental slavery, and these formed themselves into a Free Spiritual Society, 
and invited him to become their minister. The Society was formed twelve months ago 
in the house of one of their friends ; a few days afterwards they secured a room at the 
Octagon, and took their stand as a religious body. Soon after this they removed to their 
present hall. They had had to encounter great difficulties and various forms of opposition. 
In September, a conjurer, called Irving Bishop, came to Plymouth to give the ' death blow 
to Spiritualism.' For a time the subject was in everybody's mouth, and of course ' every- 
body ' went to hear him ; for a time Spiritualists seemed to be objects of commiseration 
until Irving Bishop proved himself a cheat, by failing to exhibit a single phase of 
Spiritualism. A correspondence thereupon commenced in the Western Daily Mercury, in 
which a whole galaxy of writers took part ; for a time the battle was tremendous, but he 
thought they could say without boasting that they poured into the enemy's ranks such a 
fire of stubborn facts as to leave their opponents ' without a leg to stand upon.' It was 
impossible for him to give them an idea of the advantage their cause derived from this 
controversy ; it was certainly the best work ever done for it. Since the year commenced 
they had placed a splendid harmonium in the hall, and he was pleased to tell them that 
the past week was a worthy climax to the year's work, for he had not seen such vitality 
manifested at any time during the year. The fact was that no cause ever had a brighter 
outlook than theirs. They had no creed, except the Fatherhood of God and the brother- 
hood of humanity ; and they enjoyed perfect liberty, their motto being to think and 
allow others to thank ; their aim being simply the natural de\elopment of each individual 
human soul. They could reckon amongst their company that evening some ten mediums, 
and ere the meeting closed they would, no doubt, hear some of them speak in the trance 
state, expressing the thoughts of their invisible friends." 

Of the few professional speakers who are from time to time engaged in 
the work of Spiritual revivalism, the limitations of space will only allow us 
to make very brief mention, 

15 



226 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wallis of Walsall are both highly gifted trance speakers, 
and their eloquent ministrations are warmly appreciated wherever they 
go. Of unblemished character and moral worth, the very lives of this 
noble couple form a sermon, of which any religious denomination might 
be proud. Mrs. Groom has already been noticed. Several other acceptable 
speakers of the Spiritual rostrum might take exception to being classified as 
professionals, consequently, in addition to the author of this volume, it only 
remains to notice Mr. J. J. Morse, a most admirable lecturer, and a gen de- 
man who has rendered himself worthy of that designation, by Spiritual 
culture alone. 

When the author first knew Mr. Morse, he had risen from an obscure 
position of drudgery, to one 'but little better, as the shopman at Mr. Burn's 
Spiritual Institution. Here his marvellous powers as a trance Medium 
became unfolded, until at length, by virtue of being made the instrument 
of exalted and philosophic Spirits, he grew nearer to their level ; became 
one with them instead of simply their automatic mouthpiece, and finally, 
by force of these educational processes, and his own indomitable perse- 
verance, Mr. Morse has risen to a position of honourable eminence in the 
realm of Spiritual literature, and occupies the rank of one of the most 
attractive trance speakers of the day. 

In a cause which is still hi trajisitu, and amongst a vast number of 
moving forms who are still making history, it would be as unwise to find 
fault with methods, and criticize the action of individuals, as to complain 
of the variable clouds which may disappear to-morrow, or the oppressive 
sunshine which may be modified in the course of a single hour. Every 
movement in Spiritualism is at present transitional ; nearly all the efforts 
at propagandism now conducted by Spiritualists, are expedients of the 
hour, whilst to-morrow may call for a widely different course of action. It 
need be no matter of surprise therefore, that the traditional grumbler finds 
ample food for his discontent to prey upon, whilst the enthusiast hails every 
gleam of sunshine that glances across his path, as the advent of the long 
looked for millennium. On the mountain top, or in the valley, still we 
repeat we are but in transitu, and whilst we pause to criticize, dogmatize, 
or even attempt to organize, the occasion which seemed to call for our 
special line of conduct will have passed away, and sweep us along with the 
current to meet a new emergency of the times. 

It is under these ever-changing aspects of the Spiritual cause, that the 
author's pen has been again and again suspended by an invisible but ever 
present monitor, when she would have applied in her human blindness, 
words of censure in one direction, and urgent counsels in another. " God 
understands," murmurs the angel of guidance in the ear of the scribe. 
" Write — Behold I make all things new I " cries another angelic teacher. 
Satisfied that the movement which seems so confused and heterogeneous 
in the dazzled eyes of humanity, is dictated by divine wisdom, ruled by 
Almighty power, and working together for supreme good, our part is to 
keep our lamps trimmed and burning and wait for the coming of the 
Heavenly Bridegroom whose name is — Divine Order. 




:is5*i* - 




NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 227 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AUSTRALIA. — PART L 

Spiritualism in Australia, like that which pervades the whole world in 
this modern outpouring, has both a public and private representation. The 
latter is far more general than the former in every country except America, 
but although demonstrations of Spirit power are more commonly known in 
Australia amongst individuals and families, than on the rostrum, or through 
the columns of the journals, they are less available for the purposes of 
historical record. 

The author is in possession of hundreds of accounts of personal expe- 
riences and home circles, whilst ream upon ream of alleged Spirit com- 
munications have been tendered, for insertion in this volume. 

It must of course become obvious to every sensible reader, that records 
of this character have no interest for the public, however valuable they may 
be to individuals. 

As Spiritual phenomena are for the most part limited to a few general 
methods, and family communications — so interesting to the recipients — 
become monotonous in recital to others, it would be useless to reproduce 
them in pages designed for the benefit of the world at large. 

At the risk therefore of disappointing hundreds of well-meaning corre- 
spondents who have sent matter for pubUcation, which the repertoire of 
thousands of Spiritualists could duplicate, we must dismiss this branch of 
our subject, with the acknowledgment that Spirit power has been far 
more widely diffused than the pubhc in general is apprised of, and that if a 
tithe of its doings were given to the world, they would suffice to furnish the 
shelves of an extensive library. 

Aboriginal Spiritualism in Australia has many features of interest, were 
it within the scope of this volume to notice it. As this would not be 
possible, we must content ourselves by observing modern Spiritual develop- 
ment amongst the white settlers of Australia. 

It seems that many Australian colonists had heard of the Spiritual move- 
ment before visiting the country, and on their arrival, pursuing the 
customary methods of unfoldment through the Spirit circle, a wide-spread 
interest was awakened long before public attention was called to the 
subject. In Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong, Brisbane, and numerous 
other towns and mining districts, communion with Spirits was successfully 
practised in circles and families, up to about 1867. After that epoch it 
seems to have become the subject of various journalistic reports of the 
usual adverse, eulogistic, or non-committal character. At or about that 
period, a large number of influential persons became interested in the 
matter, and not a few whose names were a sufficient guarantee of their good 
faith, began to detail wonderful experiences in the columns of the public 
journals. The debate and denial, rejoinder and defence, called forth by 
these narratives, served as propaganda for the movement, and rendered 
each freshly recorded manifestation, the centre of an ever-widening circle 
of interest, 



228 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. ^ 

In Victoria, a gentleman of considerable wealth and learning, writing 
under the nom de plume of Schamlyn, entered into a warm controversy w^ith 
the editor of the Collingwood Advertiser, in defence of Spiritualism. This 
brave advocate of the faith defines his position in unmistakable characters 
in a letter, from which we make the following pungent extract : — 

" I don't like to conclude without adverting to that boast of the editor of the Collingwood 
Advertiser — ' That, as he had initiated the controversy, he did not intend to withdraw from 
the arena until he had thoroughly exposed the delusion or trickery,' and until he has shown 
that all spiritual publications are ' sublime rot,' I wish him to be informed that the moment 
he has accomplished the feat he has so magnanimously undertaken, he can draiv upon me 
for five hundred pounds sterling, which sum I have offered for twelve months past (as 
our mutual friend Francis Waller can testify) to any person in or out of the colony, who 
can do what he, the editor of the Collingwood Advertiser, in his issue of the 21st inst., has 
ofered to do. The money is in the Union Bank of Australia, Melbourne. The savans of 
the world will have nothing to say to it ; they will not examine it ; which is a strong sign 
that they don't believe it can be accounted for by any known laws of natural science ; the 
clergy are frightened of it ; it is apt to let too much light into the laity ; and the com- 
monality pitch into it venomously, because it pleases their pastors, and gives an occasion 
for displaying their orthodoxy. Yours ever truly, 

" Walwa, 25th November, 1868. Schamltn." 

This letter and many others by the same able writer, replete with sound 
sense and unanswerable logic, will be found printed in the appendix to a 
small volume entitled " Spiritual Communications." These were given 
through the mediumship of Mrs. Elizabeth Armstrong, a lady who resides 
at Melbourne, and in her capacity of clairvoyant physician, has wrought 
multitudes of cures which, under any other name than Spiritualism, would 
have been deemed "miraculous." 

At the time when the spirit communications were given which form the 
subject of the above-named volume, Mrs. Armstrong was one of the subjects 
whom " Schamlyn," a gentleman devoted to scientific research, and a friend 
of the family — magnetized by way of experiment. In the trance condition 
thus induced, Mrs. Armstrong's hand was moved to write messages, some of 
a wonderful test character from spirit friends of those around her — others 
in various foreign languages utterly unknown to the simple country- 
bred Medium, and others, ranging through the highest flights of science, 
philosophy, and metaphysics, but all in a style, entirely beyond the normal 
capacity of the Medium. To sum up these remarkable productions, we 
here reprint the short preface of the compiler, the gentleman who some- 
times signed his articles by his own initials S., G. W., and sometimes 
" Schamlyn." It is as follows : — 

'■ The following communications purport to be messages of love and instruction from 
departed spirits, who, in giving them, have used the hand and mouth of Mrs. Armstrong 
mechanically ; in every instance involuntarily, and often in spite of herself, and of her 
persevering resistance to their control. Almost all of them were written in the presence 
of witnesses ; many, unconsciously to herself, when in trance or asleep ; and some were 
found written in her book, no one knowing when they were written. Some also in short- 
hand, no variety of which had she, or I, or any of our acquaintance, any knowledge of 
whatever. These communications are given originally in a great number of handwritings, 
exactly according to the number of spirits who have influenced her ; and whatever 
peculiarity of style, chirography, and signature has been adopted by the unseen agent — 
claiming to be a s irit — ^in his or her first communication through the hand of Mrs. Arm- 
strong, has been uniformly maintained throughout. None of the original writings are in 
her own hand. The quotations in Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic, are given in their 
respective characters." .... 

The author of this work — whilst a resident in Melbourne — enjoyed the 
privilege of an intimate acquaintance both with the clairvoyant, Mrs, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 229 

Armstrong, and the gentleman whose initials are given above. From these 
parties she learned that the Medium's unfoldment did not proceed very 
smoothly, she being violently opposed to the controlling power, to which in 
fact she was only induced to succumb by personal methods, of which we 
give the following curious examples, extracted from "Schamlyn's" book, 
page 106 : — 

" Every night, for weeks past, Mrs. A. has been visited by a spirit whom she knew in 
his earth life ; he moves the chairs and bed about — pulls her out of her bed, bedclothes 
and all — takes the comb out of her hair sometimes, and makes her hair a tangled mass. 
One comb has been taken away about ten days ago, and she was told that when they, the 
spirits, are satisfied with her conduct, the comb will be replaced in her hair," 

And again : — 

" Wednesday, 15th. — Excepting Mrs. A.'s nightly trances, there has been nothing done 
since last writing. I mean nothing that I can report from personal observation. But 
every night for a month past, she has been visited by a spirit, who pulls her out of bed, 
sometimes head first, oftener feet first, bedclothes and all ; this sometimes is done four 
times in one night. She can give no reason for such apparently violent conduct, except 
her constant refusal to do what he desires her ; and the most unaccountable thing about 
the matter is, that spirits with whom we have long been conversant, and in whom we 
have learned to trust, from their uniform goodness and patience, second the advice of the 
nightly visitant. .... 

" Friday, 24th. — The nightly visits to Mrs. A. continue, and accompanied with the 
same apparently unnecessary violent movements of furniture, and pullings of clothes, &c., 
and still urging her to obey his behests, which she still refuses to do. The only writing 
that has been done, through Mrs. A.'s hand, for the last week has been the following : — 
' Did you know how important to your development is every hour you are losing by your 
indecision, all your hesitation would very soon cease ; and however revolting to your soul 
the irrevocable step may appear, do not let it stand in your way, or you will one day 
bitterly repent having done so. We are waiting for you ; so hasten on. Why do you 
keep lingering on your road ? Be brave, and let no fear daunt your onward progress.' " 

If the restoration of hundreds of suffering mortals to health can be 
accepted as sufficient motive to justify months of similar persecution on 
the part of spirits towards their recusant Medium, then the strange nature 
of Mrs. Armstrong's development is explained, and the aphorism — " the 
end justifies the means" — must be accepted in her remarkable experiences. 

Another influential supporter of the Spiritual cause who was an early 
convert, and for a time became a pillar of strength in its maintenance, was 
a gentleman connected with the editorial department of the Melbourne 
Argus, one of the leading journals of Victoria, and an organ well calculated 
to exert a powerful sway over the minds of its readers. 

As this early friend of the cause has subsequently retreated from its 
general advocacy, and allied himself v/ith a small society banded together 
under an influence inimical to the interests alike of society and Spiritualism, 
we only allude to his adherence in the incipiency of the movement as one 
of the subtle springs by which its onward march became so marvellous a 
success. 

As the tides of public opinion moved on, doctors, lawyers, merchants, 
and men of eminence began to join the ranks. Tidings of phenomena of 
the most astounding character poured in from distant towns and districts. 
Members of the press began to share the general infection, and though 
some would not, and others could not avow their convictions, their private 
prepossessions induced them to open their columns for debate and cor- 
respondence on the subject. To add to the stimulus thus imparted, many 
of the leading colonial journals indulged in tirades of abuse and misrepre- 
sentation, which only served to increase the contagion without in the least 



2 30 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

diminishing its force. At length the clergy — moved from their customary 
apathy by the tidings of conversions amongst their own best supporters, and 
the obvious fact that the stream of public sentiment was leaving the dull 
platitudes of old theology far in the rear, began to arouse themselves and 
manifest their interest by furious abuse, biblical thunders, and ecclesiastical 
" anathemas." All would not do. Denunciation provoked retort ; discus- 
sion compelled investigation ; the results of which were, triumphant victories 
for the FACTS of Spiritualism. In New South Wales, as in Victoria, the 
illumination of supernal fires blazed forth — unlit by mortal hands, from every 
prominent centre. 

In Sydney, many converts of rank and influence suddenly appeared upon 
the scene. 

One of the noblest and best of men, one whom all classes and shades of 
opinion had been accustomed to look up to, honour and respect, now to 
be named alas, as the late Hon. John Bowie Wilson, Land Minister, and a 
valiant champion of temperance and every good thing that can reform 
mankind, became an open convert to Spiritualism, and by his personal 
influence, no less than his public defence of the cause made converts 
unnumbered, and sustained the work with the grasp of a colossus. 
Amongst the many others whose names have also graced the ranks of 
Spiritualism in Sydney, may be mentioned Mr. Henry Gale, an unswerving 
and self-sacrificing friend both of Spiritualism and Spiritualists. Mrs. 
Wilson and Mrs. Gale, Mrs. WooUey and Mrs. Greville, besides a number 
of other ladies whose names we scarcely feel privileged to mention thus 
openly ; Mr. Greville, M.P., and several other members of the New South 
Wales Parliament and Cabinet ; Hon. J. Windeyer, Attorney-General of the 
Colony, subsequently one of the judges ; Mr. Alfred De Lissa, an eminent 
barrister; Mr. Cyril Haviland, a literary gentleman of high standing; Mr. 
Macdonald, Captain Barron and his amiable lady ; Mr. Milner Stephen, a 
barrister of eminence, his lady and family, and many other ladies and 
gentlemen of the first standing, joined the ranks of Spiritualism, and proved 
themselves as faithful in its defence, as they were honourable in avowing 
their unpopular (?) faith. 

We must now call attention to a convert who, though neither an M.P. 
or aristocrat, as regards social position, has yet done as much, we might 
say more, to advance the cause of Spiritualism,, and crystallize its scattered 
fragments into concrete strength, than any other individual in the ranks. 
We speak of Mr. Wm. Terry, the well-known and enterprising editor of the 
Melbourne Harbinger of Light, the oldest and best Spiritual organ of 
Australia. 

Although biographical details in general are too prolix and personal for 
these pages, Mr. Terry's adherence to the cause of Spiritualism became an 
event of such marked importance, and he has so long and indefatigably 
identified himself with its progress, that we deem it in this instance only 
just to depart from the plan of this work and give the following biographical 
notice of Mr. Terry, as prepared for one of the English Spiritual papers 
by Hudson Tuttle, of America. 

This eminent and careful writer says : — 

"Mr. Terry was born in London in 1836, and in 1857 emigrated to Melbourne, 
Australia. He was early tbrowu upon the world, and compelled to labour for a sub- 
sistence, and had little opportunity for literary culture. The boy of seventeen buffetted 
his way in the rough colonial world almost alone and single-handed. After the usual 
vicissitudes incident to the state of society during the early developments of the gold 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 231 

field, he established, in connection with his brother, a general store at Remington, near 
Melbourne, on the main road to the principal gold diggings. It was here, in the year 1859, 
that his attention was first drawn to Spiritualism. It is of deep interest to trMce his 
cumulative experience, and the character of the phenomena presented to him, for they are 
parallel and identical in character with those so widely witnessed in this country, showing 
a common origin. The reading of the work by Judge Edmonds and Dr. Dexter on 
' Spiritualism,' which chanced to fall into his hand, interested him so much in the subject, 
that he began to inquire if there were investigators in the colony. Hearing that there 
were, and that they held seances in East Melbourne, he obtained permission to attend. 
Arriving rather late, he found twelve persons seated around a large loo-table. He took his 
seat at a small table at the extremity of the apartment, and carefully watched the pro- 
ceedings. He found the people more than usually intelligent, and after a time the table 
moved and answered questions. Thus he had at once given him a fact to begin with. 
He says : — 

" ' A supermundane power acted upon the table. The next thing was to ascertain the 
origin and nature of that power. With that view I obtained an introduction to a private 
circle, the members of which consisted of one family. I found them firm believers ; their 
conduct was kindly and straightforward, and whilst ofiering us every opportunity to 
investigate, they did not seem anxious to proselyte. When we sat at a low table, it soon 
began to move and respond to the alphabet, to the questions of our hostess. . . . The 
table then began to imitate the motions of a ship at sea, and on inquiring, the name of a 
friend who had been lost at sea was given. He was asked to point out any passHge in the 
Bible which would indicate the circumstances of his death, and the chapter and verse were 
indicated. Altogether the manifestations were demonstrative of an unseen intelligence 
controlling them. Their respectability and the absence of any motive for deception, 
forbade the idea of collusion or trickery ; moreover our friends were most desirous that 
we should examine everything for ourselves, and we availed ourselves of the permission. 

" ' Never shall I forget the eventful night when I realized the grand truth of man's con- 
tinuous sensuous existence after death. I felt the presence of my brother, and it was 
indeed a happy reunion. Death had lost its sting, the grave its victory. My soul was 
filled with inexfiressible joy, and as I wended my way homeward to tell the glad tidings, 
I could scarcely feel the ground under my feet. Shortly after this I was informed by my 
spirit friends that I should become a writing medium. I accordingly sat alone, and 
watched events. The first sensation experienced was a numbness of the hand and arm ; 
then a current, as of mild electricity, passed through it, and my hand began to rotnte, 
drawing circles on paper, and after a considerable time the letters S. B. were written. 
These I recognized as the initials of a spirit who had communicated before with us by 
means of the table. In a few days the influence increased, and several messages were 
written and signed by my brother and many others whom I had known and loved while 
in the body. 

" ' About this time one of our circle received a letter from England, informing him 
that a ship named the " City of New York," on which an intimate friend of his was an 
officer, was long overdue and supposed to be lost. At our first meeting afterwards a 
communication was written through my hand giving an account of the foundering of the 
steamship '' City of Boston." 

" ' We said it was the " City of New York" that was supposed to be lost, but the spirit 
adhered to what he had written, and when the next mail arrived from England the papers 
contained an account of the loss of the " City of Boston." ' " 

Passing over the narrative of many years of steady growth in various 
phases of mediumship we resume our extracts at the time when Mr. Terry's 
powers were specially unfolded for the diagnosis and cure of disease. 

After describing in graphic terms the commencement and progress of 
Mr. Terry's work as a Clairvoyant and Medical Medium, the biographer 
says : — 

"About 1869 the necessity for a Spiritualistic journal was impressed deeply on the 
mind of Mr. Terry. He could not cast it off', but pondered over the enterprise. At this 
time, an exceedingly sensitive patient desciibed a spirit holding a scroll on whicli was 
written, ' Harbinger of Light,' and the motto, ' Dawn approaches, error is passing 
away ; men arising shall hail the day.' This influenced him, and in August, 1870, he set 
to work to prepare the first number, which appeared on the 1st of September of that 
year, and has continued to be regularly issued to the present. 

" There was no organisation in the Australian colony, and Mr. Terry aa,7f the advantage 
and necessity of associative movement. He consulted a few friends, and in November, 



232 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



1870, he organised the first Victorian Association of Spiritualists. A hall was rented, and 
Sunday services, consisting of essays and readings by members, enlivened by appropriate 
hymns, were held. In October, 1872, impressed with the desirability of forming a 
Lyceum, he called together a few willing workers, and held the first session October 20th, 
1872. It is, and has been from the first in a flourishing condition, numbering one 
hundred and fifty members, with a very handsome and complete outfit, and excellent 
library. He has remained an officer ever since, and conductor four sessions. He assisted 
in the establishment of the Spiritualist and Free-thought Association, which succeeded 
the original one, and was its first president. He has lectured occasionally to appreciative 
audiences, and his lectures have been widely circulated. His mediumship, which gave 
such fair promise, both in res;ard to writing and speaking, became controlled especially for 
the relief of the sick. Without the assistance of advertising he has acquired a fine 
practice. With this he combines a trade in Reform and Spiritualistic publications, as 
extensive as the colony, and the publication of the Harbinger of Light, a Spiritual journal 
that is nn honour to the cause, and well sustains the grand philosophy of immortality. 
No man is doing more for the cause, or has done more efficient work." 

A short but interesting summary of the rise and progress of Spiritualism 
in Australia is given in the American Banner of Light of i88o, in which 
Mr. Terry's good service is again alluded to, and placed in line with several 
other pioneers of the movement, of whom mention has not as yet been 
made. The sketch reads as follows : — 

"the rise and progress of spiritualism in AUSTRALIA. 

" The Harbinger of Light, published at Melbourne, Australia, furnishes a review of the 
origin of its publication and the work it has accomplished during the ten years just closed. 
At its advent in 1870, considerable interest had been awakened in the subject of 
Spiritualism, by tlie lectures of Mr. Nayler in Melbourne, and Mr. Leech at Castlemaine. 
The leaders of the church became disturbed, and seeing their gods in danger, sought to stay 
the progress of what would eventually lessen their influence and possibly their income. But 
Mr. Nayler spoke and wrote with more vigour ; the addresses of Mr. Leech were published 
from week to week in pamphlet form and widely distributed. At the same time, Mr. 
Charles Bright, who had published letters on Spiritualism in the Argus, over an assumed 
name, openly identified himself with the movement and spoke publicly on the subject. 
Shortly after, eleven persous met and formed an association, which soon increased to 
eighty members. A hymn book was compiled and Sunday services began. As elsewhere, 
the press ridiculed, and the pulpit denounced Spiritualism as a delusion. A number of 
articles in the Argus brought some of the facts prominently before the public, and the 
growing interest wan advanced by a public discussion between Messrs. Tyerman and 
Blair. In 1872, a Sunday school on harmonial principles was established, Mr. W. H. 
Terry, the proprietor of the Harbinger, being its first conductor. Almost simultaneously 
wi^h this was the visit of Dr. J. M. Peebles, whose public lectures and work in the Lyceum 
served to consolidate the movement. A controversy in the Age, between Rev. Mr. Potter, 
Mr. Tyerman and Mr. Terry, brought the facts and teachings of Spiritualism into further 
notice. 

" Soon came Dr. Peebles, Thomas Walker, Mrs. Britten and others, who widened the 
influence of the spiritualistic philosophy, and aided the Harbinger in its efibrtsto establish 
Spiritualism on a broad, rational basis. Mr. W. H. Terry is deserving of all praise for his 
unselfish and faithful exertions in carrying the Harbinger through ten years of as hard 
labour as ever befell any similar enterprise, and we bespeak for him, in his continued 
effi)rt8 to make known the evidences of a future existence and the illuminating truths of 
Spiritualism, the hearty co-operation and sympathy of all friends of the cause." 

The " Mr. Nayler" alluded to in the above-quoted article, as well as his 
estimable wife, proved invaluable pioneers in the cause of progress as 
Mediums for speaking, drawing, and other gifts. Both have now passed to 
their well-earned rest, but the record they have left behind will never pass 
out of grateful remembrance in this generation, whilst the effects of their 
good service will endure for all time. 

In the palatial Melbourne residence of Mr. William Stanford, an 
American gentleman who has devoted time, wealth, and noble service to 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 233 

the advancement of Spiritualism, one room is entirely hung with Mrs. 
Nayler's Spirit drawings, and the hospitable master of the mansion, scorns 
not to rank amongst his costliest works of art, the Spirit drawings and 
paintings of the poor Medium. Mr. Stanford never descants more 
enthusiastically on the glorious pictures which adorn his walls, nor appears 
in more admirable relief to the time-serving throng with whom the Spirit 
world and its work is a tabooed subject, than when he conducts his visitors 
into the cabinet chamber gemmed with the artistic work of the "ancient" 
lady, now a blessed Spirit, and describes the marvels which attended 
the production of this complete picture gallery of Spirit art. 

Amongst the distinguished workers in early Colonial Spiritualism, we 
must not omit to mention the Rev. John Tyerman, formerly a clergyman 
of the Church of England. 

Writing to the Banner of Light on the subject of Mr. Tyerman's 
accession to the Spiritual ranks, an esteemed American correspondent 
says : — 

" The Rev. J. Tyerman, of the Church of England, resident in one of the country 
districts, boldly declared his full reception of Spiritualism as a great fact, and his change 
of religious faith consequent upon the teachings of Spirits. Of course he was welcomed 
with open arms by the whole body of Spiritualists in Melbourne, the only city where 
there was any considerable number enrolled in one association. He soon became the 
principal lecturer, though not the only one employed by the Association, and well has he 
wielded the sword of the new faith. He is decidedly of the pioneer stamp, a skilful 
debater, a fluent speaker, ready at any moment to engage with any one, either by 
word of mouth or as a writer. So widely, indeed, did he make his influence felt, and so 
individual was it, that a new society grew up around him, called the Free-Thought and 
Spiritualist Propaganda Society, which remained in existence till Mr. Tyerman lemoved 
to Sydney, when it coalesced with the older Association under the combined name of 
Melbourne Spiritualist and Free-Thought Association." 

Mr. Tyerman is acknowledged to have wrought well and faithfully for 
the cause of Spiritualism. Though now removed by the Death Angel 
to the farther shore, his good service is held in grateful remembrance by 
many of those who were first stimulated to investigate Spiritualism, through 
his trenchant arguments and fearless example. Like all public labourers 
in an unpopular cause, Mr. Tyerman had to do battle with personal enemies 
both within and without the camp, and even now his name is often used 
as a byword of reproach against SpirituaHsm. And yet — " He being dead 
yet speaketh " — and surely "His works do follow him." 

Another valuable convert to the cause of SpirituaUsm at a time when it 
most needed good service, was Mrs. Florence Williams, the daughter of 
the celebrated English noveUst G. P. R. James, and the inheritor of his talent, 
originality of thought, and high culture. This lady for a long time officiated 
at the first Spiritual meetings convened for Sabbath Day exercises, as an 
acceptable and eloquent lecturer, and her essays would have formed an 
admirable epitome of Spiritual revelations at the time in which they were 
delivered. 

The visits of several zealous propagandists have been alluded to in 
previous quotations, amongst whom must be named one of the first to 
break ground as a public exponent of Spiritualism, the Rev. j. M. Peebles, 
formerly a minister of Battle Creek, Michigan. Mr. Peebles was well 
known in America as a fine writer and lecturer, and as such was justified 
in expecting courteous, if not eulogistic mention from the press of a foreign 
country, with whom his own was on terms of amicable intercourse. How 
widely different was the journalistic treatment he experienced may be 



234 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

gathered from his own remarks addressed to the Banner of Light some 
five years after his first visit, and describing in graphic terms the changed 
spirit which marked aUke the progress of the movement and the alteration 
in the tone of pubUc opinion. 
Mr. Peebles says : — 

" Relative to Spiritualism and its divine principles public sentiment has changed rapidly, 
and for the better, during the past five years. Upon my late public appearance in Melbourne, 
the Hon. John Mcllwraith, Ex-mayor of the city, and Commissioner to our Centennial 
Exhibition, took the chair, introducing me to the audience. On my previous visit some 
of the Spiritualists seemed a little timid. They preferred being called investigators, 
remaining a good distance from the front. Then my travelling companion, Dr. Dunn, 
was misrepresented and meanly vilified in the city journals ; while I was hissed in the 
market, caricatured in Punch, burlesqued in a theatre, and published in the daily press 
as an "ignorant Yankee," an "American trickster," a "long-haired apostate," and a 
" most unblushing blasphemer ! " But how changed ! Eecently the secular press 
treated me fairly. Even the usually abusive Telegra'ph published Mr. Stevenson's article 
assuring the Rev. Mr. Green that I was wilhng to meet him at once in a public discussion. 
The Melbourne Argus, one of the best daily papers in the world, the Australasian, the 
Herald, and the Age, all dealt honourably by me, reporting my lectures, if briefly, with 
admirable impartiality. The press is a reflector ; and those audiences of 2,000 and 2,500 
in the great Opera House on each Sunday for several successive months were not without 
a most striking moral significance. It seemed to be the general opinion that Spiritualism 
had never before occupied so prominent yet so favourable a position in the eyes of the 
public. ..." 

That Australia might not be wanting in phenomenal proofs of the Spiritual 
authority upon which the doctrines of the rostrum were promulgated, the 
invisible powers through whose resistless influence the movement has been 
conducted, impelled the Davenport Brothers, and Charles Foster, the 
celebrated test and physical Medium, to visit the Colonies on different 
occasions, subsequently to the establishment of the Harbinger of Light in 
1870. It was fortunate for the best interests of truth that this was the case, 
as Mr. Terry's plain account of the phenomena as they really occurred 
through these Mediums, was essential, to counteract the wilful spirit of 
misrepresentation indulged in by a large portion of the Colonial press. 
The reader must now be familiar with the several phases of Spirit power 
displayed through the Davenports and Charles Foster ; descriptions of 
what transpired in their presence therefore would be unnecessary. It is 
worthy of note however, that William Davenport, the younger of the cele- 
brated brothers, closed a life of unnatural toil, cruel persecution, and hard- 
ship, in Melbourne, sinking, to what none can doubt to be his well-earned 
rest, under the premature decay of a worn-out constitution. 

To commemorate the blessed transition from the chilling airs which had 
blighted the young life of his brother, and sped him all too soon to the 
land of never setting suns, poor Ira, the lonely brother still left, a stranger 
so far distant from home and friends, determined to leave behind him such 
a memento of his departed companion, as should (to his conception at least) 
worthily commemorate the life-long service to which his brother had fallen 
a sacrifice. 

For this purpose, he devised a tombstone, on which he caused to be 
engraved, the representation of the cabinet, ropes, and other paraphernalia, 
which constituted the two brothers' stock-in-trade. But when this strange 
device was about to be set up, the reverend gentleman who claimed rule 
over the sacred " city of the dead," powerless as he might be to influence 
the destiny of the enfranchised soul, protested against such a heathenish 
record being introduced into sacred ground. In a word, Christian piety 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 235 

was deeply scandalized at Ira's ingenious method of honouring his poor 
brother, and the holy man in question ruled the unsanctified tombstone 
out of the cemetery. 

It was nothing that stony voices on every side proclaimed such 
heathenish falsehoods, as "gone to God;" "sleeping in the ground;" 
" waiting for the last trump to sound," &c., &c. These caricatures of the 
departed soul's condition, were strictly in Christian order, but to tell the 
actual story of Willie Davenport's life in truthful marble was too direct a 
perversion of Christian order to be permitted, and so the tombstone was 
ruled out, and so it would have remained had not a sentiment.of reactionary 
common sense and good feeling so prevailed, that it was ultimately set up 
in a little nook railed off from the sacred dust, and yet sufficiently near to 
suggest the inference, that in some distant angehc resurrection day, even 
Willie Davenport might creep into heaven through some small side door 
whose hinges were oiled by the sanctified remains near which his unsanc- 
tified dust was laid to rest. That Willie Davenport's bright and progressed 
spirit has whispered into his bereaved brother's ear many a time, Laertes' 
bitter rebuke to the " churlish priest " whom Shakespere represents as 
cutting short poor Ophelia's funeral rites, we have good reason to believe ; 
enough that the curtain has fallen on what might have been esteemed a 
tragedy, had not the cant of Christian ecclesiasticism turned it into a farce. 
When that curtain rises again on Spirit life, we may find Willie Davenport 
and the " churlish priest" have changed places. 

Of Charles Foster's work in Australia, we can only offer one representative 
extract. Though written in the Harbinger of Light in 1881, it refers to a 
scene which transpired eight years previously. The author, ,Mr. H. J. 
Browne, of Melbourne, is a gentleman whose wealth, influence, and 
distinguished literary abilities, have been nobly devoted to the advance- 
ment of every good work in Spiritualism. Beloved and admired by all 
who knew them, both Mr. and Mrs. Browne have been pillars of strength 
to the cause in Melbourne. 

Besides being the author of several volumes, pamphlets, and well-written 
articles, on the facts and philosophy of Spiritualism, Mr. Browne has 
gallantly maintained the cause in public as well as in private debate. If 
Charles Foster had made no other converts than this gentleman and his 
fair wife, his visit to Australia would not have been in vain. In one of his . 
" familiar letters," published in the Harbinger of Light, Mr. Browne 
describes his first interview with Mr. Foster and its consequences, as 
follows : — 

" My first decided experience of practical Spiritualism was connected with the exposi- 
tion of the phenomena by Mr. Foster, in Melbourne, seven or eight years ago. I received 
so many assurances of the powerful and convincing nature of his exhibitions from friends 
who had visited him in Spring Street, that I was induced, in company of a friend, to 
interview him ; and I must confess I did so with a very strong impression that his 
exhibitions were based on mere trickery, and that those who visited him were the victims 
of delusion. However, the evidence he afiforded me, the names he mentioned of friends who 
had been dead years and years, the messages which came through him to me, stamped with a 
particularity which carried the evidence with them, could not be explained away. I could 
not conceive that by any process of mind-reading Mr. Foster could teU me circumstances 
of a private nature, and which for the time had faded from my memory, or indeed that he 
could tell the name of my father, for I myself was a perfect stranger to him, and he had 
no opportunity of making enquiry. But in addition to this, he not only quoted names, 
and gave the cause of the death of several friends long in the spirit-world, describing 
their characteristics, but I distinctly saw, in the front of Ids face, the materialised 
featiires of a friend who had been dead some little time, and of whom he could by no 
possibility have known anything." 



236 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Mr. Browne sums up a long account of phenomena, very wonderful in 
itself, but too familiar to need re-iteration, with the following urgent 
question : — 

" Is it not sufficient that names, characteristics, appropriate messages, and most accu- 
rate description of friends who have been in the spirit-world for so long a time are thus 
given with accuracy ? " 



CHAPTER XXX. 



SPIRITUALISM IN AUSTRALIA. — PART II. 

We must now call attention to the efficient service rendered to the cause 
of Spiritualism by Mr. Thomas Walker, a young Englishman first intro- 
duced in the Colonies by the Rev. J. M. Peebles, in whose company Mr. 
Walker for some time travelled. 

Alleging himself to be a " trance speaker " under the control of certain 
Spirits whom he named, Mr. Walker lectured acceptably in Sydney, Mel- 
bourne, and other places in the Colonies on the Spiritual rostrum. At the 
period of the author's visit to Australia in March, 1878, Mr. Walker was 
maintaining a public debate with a Mr. M. W. Green, a minister of a 
denomination termed "the Church of Christ."^ This gentleman had 
acquired some reputation in the Colonies as a preacher, and as one who had 
bitterly opposed, and taken every possible opportunity to misrepresent 
Spiritualism. 

The debate, which was held in the Temperance Hall, Melbourne, had 
attracted large audiences, and been extended for several nights beyond 
the period originally agreed upon. 

At the time when the author arrived in Melbourne, a,nd was taken by 
her new friends to hear the closing arguments, it was evident that Mr. 
Green had in a great measure abandoned the ground originally assumed for 
debate — namely, the relative principles of Christianity and Spiritualism — 
and was now entering upon that most objectionable system of warfare 
which consists of personal invective, against the characters of those who 
espoused the cause which he opposed. 

This was all the more injurious, as Mr. Green's attacks were chiefly 
levelled against the American Spiritualists, and the scandalous stories he 
retailed were not likely to be familiar enough to English listeners to enable 
them to judge of the truth or falsehood of his allegations. 

It was in pursuance of this very honourable mode of warfare, that on the 
last night but one of the debate, Mr. Green, towards the close of the pro- 
ceedings, launched what he evidently intended to be a final thunderbolt 
against the whole rank and file of the Spiritualists, by reading a letter, full 
of the bitterest denunciations against Spiritualism and the vilest charges 
against Spiritualists — which letter Mr. Green affirmed, emanated " from a 
physician of high standing in the City of New York." For the original of 
this document the reader is I'eferred to the printed report of the Green 
and Walker debate published in Melbourne and sold by Mr. Terry. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 237 

It is only necessary to say to the well-informed American reader, that 
the said physician in high standing — whose name would disgrace these 
pages, was the notorious individual who was cited by his hapless young 
wife — one of the most celebrated trance-speaking Mediums of America — 
to answer for his shameful misdeeds in a New York court of justice; that 
in passing a sentence which freed the suffering lady from the power of the 
infamous husband, the latter was branded with a character so vile, that he 
was virtually expelled — not only from association with every Spiritual 
society in America — but also from the notice of any respectable members 
of the community. 

It was in revenge for the odium and disgrace thus stamped upon him 
that the New York physician of high standing wrote and printed a vengeful 
tract, bitterly denouncing the Spirituahsts who had repudiated him ; and it 
was this notable and authoritative document by which Mr. Green proposed 
to deal the final blow that should demolish Spiritualism all over the world. 

Although this letter bore in its very wording, evidence of the reckless 
mendacity and malignity which had dictated it, Mr. Green read it out with 
an assumption of deep regret that he had been forced to this course " in the 
best interests of society, morality, duty," &c., &c. The reading of such a 
document to an audience totally unacquainted with the circumstances 
under which it was written, of course fell like a thunderbolt on the 
astonished listeners, and produced a feeling of discouragement even 
amongst the SpirituaUsts present, which Mr. Walker could not dispel. But 
whilst Mr. Green was felicitating himself on the immense advantage his 
mode of attack had procured for him, he was entirely unconscious of the fact, 
that two newly arrived strangers from America were in the audience, who 
did know the character of the witness, he had so recklessly cited. Those 
strangers were the author and her husband, and when on the next evening 
the closing proceedings of the debate were opened, Mr. Walker and his 
committee were in possession of a letter signed in full, and stating clearly, 
the real character and standing of Mr, Green's " New York physician." 
The circumstances under which this man was universally tabooed by the 
American Spiritualists were fully detailed, and the vengeance which 
animated him to retaliate upon them in Mr. Green's famous document, 
made thoroughly manifest. Furthermore, the writer offered in proof of her 
veracity, to refer a committee of enquiry to twelve respectable residents of 
New York City. It may well be supposed, the reading of this letter, 
signed as it was by a party then present in the audience, created a sensa- 
tion which fully equalled, if it did not exceed that of the former occasion. 
It is enough to say, the debate on this evening was neither as extended 
nor yet as spirited as formerly. Every listener felt doubtless with the 
minister and his party, that the matter had gone quite far enough, and the 
result was, the affair closed in the usual parliamentary w^ay, that is to say, 
hollow courtesies were exchanged, the debatants mutually complimented 
each other; votes of thanks, and a general hand-shaking ensued, and so the 
proceedings terminated. 

Following upon this debate, the author proceeded to fill an engage- 
ment to deliver Sunday evening lectures at the Melbourne Opera House, 
during a period extending over several months. As the audiences at these 
meetings scarcely ever numbered less than two thousand persons, it may be 
supposed that the interest as well as antagonism they excited, was very 
marked. In this, both press and pulpit played their accustomed role. 
The columns of the journals became the arena of a perfect guerilla warfare, 



238 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

and the author's pen was kept constantly busy, in refuting erroneous 
statements, and answering antagonistic opponents. Some of these attacks 
necessitated answers from the rostrum, which were not unfrequentlj printed 
and distributed abroad, as Spiritual propaganda. 

Meantime the pulpits thundered forth their customary denunciations, 
although a few of the more liberal preachers of the day, bore testimony to 
the immense impulse that Spiritualism had communicated to popular 
sentiment. 

Week evening meetings also were organized in the Melbourne Athenaeum 
and many of the adjacent towns and districts. 

During the author's visit to Australia she was induced to publish several 
lectures, tracts, and two volumes of a still more important character. 
These works were issued by the large and influential publishing house of 
Messrs. Robertson and Co., Melbourne, and though several editions were 
run through, they were so eagerly bought up, that they are now out of 
print and unobtainable. The first volume published was a manual of 
Spiritualism designed for the use of investigators, called " On the Road ; " 
the second was entitled " The Faith's Facts and Frauds of Religious 
History." 

Both will be republished when time and opportunity serves for a future 
issue. 

Mrs. Britten's time being limited, and pressing demands calling her away 
to other countries, her stay in Australia was comparatively short and 
terminated in about fourteen months, Mr. Walker, however, remained to 
reap the fruit of his labours, and after an absence of some months in South 
Africa, has returned to Melbourne, as a lecturer on avowedly " Free Thought 
subjects." 

It was about this time that the celebrated test and physical Medium, Dr. 
Slade, arrived in the Colonies, and the marvellous proofs of Spirit power 
that were exhibited in his presence, contributed not a little to the rapid 
growth of a deep and intelligent interest in Spiritualism. 

How far the insults and sneers of the press had become modified to fair 
and candid reports of what was transpiring, may be gathered, from the 
following extracts, taken from the Melbourne Age, one of the leading daily 
journals of the city. They are dated August 20, 1878, and read thus : — 

" A STANCE WITH DR. SLADE. 

" Spiritualism is just now very much to the front in Melbourne. The lectures of 
Mrs. Emma Hardinge-Britten, delivered to crowded audiences at the Opera House every 
Sunday evening, have naturally attracted a sort of wondering curiosity to the subject, 
and the interest has probably been intensified by the strenuous efforts that are being 
made in some of the orthodox pulpits to prove that the whole thing is an emanation from 
the devil. The announcement that the famous Dr. Slade had arrived to strengthen the 
ranks of the Spiritualists has therefore been made at a very critical juncture, and I should 
not be surprised to find that the consequence will be to infuse a galvanic activity into 
the forces on both sides. Though I do not profess to be a Spiritualist, I own to having 
been infected with the fashionable itch for witnessing ' physical manifestations,' as they 
are called, and accordingly I have attended several circles with more or less gratification. 
But Dr. Slade is not an ordinary medium, even amongst professionals. The literature of 
the Spiritualists is full of his extraordinary achievements, attested to all appearance by 
credible witnesses, who have not been ashamed to append their names to their statements. 
. . . I see that on one occasion, writing in six dififerent languages was obtained on a 
single slate, and one day, accompanied by two learned professors, Dr. Slade had a sitting 
with the Grand Duke Constantine, who obtained writing on a new slate held by himself 
alone. From St. Petersburg Dr. Slade went to Berlin, where he is said to have obtained 
some marvellous manifestations in the house of Professor Zollner, and where he was 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 239 

visited by the court conjurer to the Emperor, Samuel Bellachini. . . . My object in 
visiting Dr. Slade can be understood when I was introduced to him with my friend, whom 
I shall call Omega, and who was bent on the same errand. Dr. Slade and Mr. Terry 
constituted the circle of four who sat around the table in the centre of the room almost 
as immediately as we entered it. There was nothing in the room to attract attention. No 
signs of confederacy, human or mechanical. The hour was eleven in the morning. The 
window was unshuttered, and the sun was shining brightly. The table at which we 
sat was a new one, made especially by Wallach Brothers, of Elizabeth Street, of polished 
cedar, having four slight legs, one flap, and no ledges of any kind underneath. As soon 
as we examined it Dr. Slade took his seat on one side, facing the window, and the rest of 
us occupied the other three seats. He was particularly anxious that we should see he 
had nothing about him. It had been said that he wrote on the slate by means of a crumb 
of pencil stuck in his finger-nails, but his nails were cut to the quick, while his legs and 
feet were ostentatiously placed away from the table in a side position, exposed to view 
the whole time. He first produced a slate of the ordinary school size, with a wet sponge, 
which I used to it. A chip uf pencil about the size of a grain of wheat was placed upon 
it on the table ; we joined hands, and immediately taps were heard about the table, and 
in answer to a question — ' Will you write ?'— from Dr. Slade, three raps were given, and 
he forthwith took up the slate with the pencil lying on it, and held half of it under the 
table by his finger and thumb, which clasped the corner of the half that was outside the 
table, and was therefore easily seen by all present. His left hand remained near the 
centre of the table, resting on those of the two sitters on either side of him. Several 
convulsive jerks of his arm were now given, then a pause, and immediately the sound of 
writing was audible to every one, a scratching sound interrupted by the tap of the pencil, 
which indicated, as we afterwards found, that the t's were being crossed and the i's 
dotted. The slate was then exposed, and the words written were in answer to the 
question which had been put by Omega as to whether he had psychic power or not. I 
pass over the conversation that ensued on the subject, and go on to the next phenomenon. 
To satisfy myself that the ' trick ' was not done by means of sympathetic writing on the 
slate, I had ten minutes previously purchased a slate from a shop in Bourke Street, con- 
taining three leaves, and shutting up book fashion. This I produced, and Dr. Slade 
readily repeated his performance with it. It was necessary to break the pencil down to a 
mere crumb, in order to insert it between the leaves of the slate. This done, the pheno- 
menon at once recurred, with this rather perplexing difference, that the slate, instead of 
being put half under the table, forced itself by a series of jerks on to my neck, and 
rejDosed quietly under my ear, in the eyes of every one present. The scratching then 
commenced ; I heard the t's crossed and the i's dotted by the moving pencil, and at the 
usual signal I opened the slate, and found an intelligible reply to the question put. . . 
. . The next manifestation was the levitation of one of the sitters in his chair about a 
clear foot from the ground, and the levitation of the table about two feet. I ought to 
have mentioned that during the whole of the seance there was a good deal of by-play 
going on. Everyone felt the touch of hands more or less, and the sitters' chairs were 
twice wrenched from under them, or nearly so, but the psychic could not possibly have 
done it. . . ." 

As the messages that were obtained, though of a remarkable test character, 
would be of no interest to the reader, we omit them. The writer sums up 
the result of his visit with a candid reiteration of all the conditions, and 
acknowledges the utter impossibility of attributing the phenomena produced 
to fraud, collusion, or any known mundane causes. 

As personal details are more graphic than the cold narrations of passing 
events, we deem it expedient in this place to give our readers an inside view 
of Spiritualism in Australia, by republishing one of the many articles sent 
by the author to the American Spiritual journals during her sojourn in 
the Colonies. The following excerpt was written as the result of personal 
experience, and at a time when Spiritualism, in the usual inflated style of 
journalistic literature, was " in the zenith of its triumphs." It is addressed 
to the Editor of the Banner of Light, and reads as follows : — 

" Spiritualism in these Colonies finds little or no public representation outside of 
Melbourne or Sydney, nevertheless warm friends of the cause are scattered all over the land, 
and endeavours are being made to enlarge the numerous circles into public meetings, and 
the fugitive efforts of whole-hearted individuals into associations as powerful as that which 



240 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

exists in Melbourne. At present, the attempt to effect missionary work in any portions 
of Australia outside Sydney or Melbourne, becomes too great a burden to the luckless 
individual, who has not only to do the work, but to bear the entire cost of the under- 
taking, as I have had to do in my visits to various towns in Victoria. Expenses which are 
cheerfully divided amongst the many in the United States, become all too heavy for 
endurance when shouldered upon the isolated workers ; hence the paucity of public repre- 
sentation, and the impossibility of those who visit the Colonies, as I have done, effecting 
any important pioneer work beyond the two great centres I have named. Mr. Walker at 
Sydney, and I at Melbourne, have been favoured with the largest gatherings ever 
assembled at Colonial Sunday meetings. 

" Having, by desire of my spirit guides, exchanged rostrums, he filling my place at 
Melbourne, and I his at Sydney, we find simultaneously at the same time, and on the 
same Sundays, the lessees of the two theatres we occupied raising their rent ujDon us one 
hundred and fifty per cent. The freethinkers and Spiritualists had occupied the theatre 
in Sydney four years at the rate of four pounds per Sunday. For my benefit the landlord 
raised the rent to ten pounds, whilst the same wonderful spirit of accordance caused the 
Melbourne manager to increase upon Mr. Walker from eight pounds to a demand of 
twenty. With our heavy expenses and small admission fees this was tantamount to 
driving us out altogether. Both of us have succeeded after much difficulty, and fighting 
Christian warriors with the Christian arms of subtlety and vigilance, in securing other 
places to lecture in ; and despite the fact that the press insult us, the pulpit curse us, and 
Christians generally devote us to as complete a prophecy of what they would wish us to 
enjoy everlastingly as their piety can devise, we are each attracting our thousands every 
Sunday ni^ht, and making such unmistakable marks on public opinion as will not easily 
be effaced again. . . . 

" Dr. Slade's advent in Melbourne since last September has been productive of an 
immense amount of good. How far his labours here will prove remunerative I am not 
prepared to say. Frankly speaking, I do not advise Spirit Mediums or speakers to visit 
these colonies on financial advancement intent. There is an abundant crop of Medium 
power existing, interest enough in the cause, and many of the kindest hearts and clearest 
brains in the world to be found here ; but the lack of organisation, to which I have before 
alluded, and the imperative necessity for the workers who come here to make their 
labours remunerative, paralyses all attempts at advancement, except in the sensation line. 
Still I feel confident that with united action throughout the scattered force of Spiritualistic 
thought in these Colonies, Spiritualism might and would supersede every other phase of 
religious thought in an incredibly short space of time. I must not omit to mention that 
the friends in every place I have visited have been more than kind, hospitable, and 
appreciative. The public have defied both press and pulpit in their unstinted support of 
my lectures. The press have been equally servile, and the Christian world equally 
stirred, and equally active in desperate attempts to crush out the obvious proofs of 
immortality Spiritualism brings. 

" In Melbourne, I had to fight my way to comply with an invitation to lecture for the 
benefit of the City Hospital. I fought and conquered ; and the hospital committee 
revenged itself for a crowded attendance at the Town Hall by taking my money without 
the grace of thanks, either in public or private, and the simply formal acknowledgment 
of my services by an official receipt. In Sydney, where I now am, I was equally privileged 
in lecturing for the benefit of the Temperance Alliance, and equally honoured, after an 
enthusiastic and successful meeting, by the daily press of the city in their utter silence 
concerning such an important meeting, and their careful record of all sorts of such trash 
as they disgrace their columns with. So mote it be. The wheel will turn some day ! 

" Sydney is deepening from a lovely spring to a warm summer, just as you in America 
are collapsing into a freezing winter. Some time soon after Christmas (Midsummer here) 
I expect we shall begin to turn our thoughts westward, where home duties and private 
interests imperatively summon us ; if not early in the spring, not later than the ensuing 
early summer. " Emma Habdinge Bkittbn. 

" Sydney, New South Wales, November, 1878." 

During the years 1881 and 82 the AustraUan colonists were favoured with 
visits from three more well-known American Spiritualists. The first of 
these was Professor Denton, an able and eloquent lecturer on geology, and 
one who never fails to combine with his scientific addresses, one or more 
stirring lectures on SpirituaUsm. The second propagandist was Mrs. Ada 
Foye, one of the best test, writing, rapping, and seeing Mediums, that has 
ever appeared in the ranks of Spiritualism, whilst the third was Mrs. E. L. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 241 

Watson, a charming trance speaker, and a lady as much admired for her 
spotless life and amiable manners as for her eloquent addresses. 

Mrs. Watson's stay in the Colonies, like that of Mrs. Foye, was very brief, 
yet quite long enough to create a profound impression upon her large 
audiences and establish her memory in the hearts of hosts of friends. 

Professor Denton's lectures created a wide-spread interest amongst all 
classes of listeners. Even the most hypercritical scientists were compelled 
to admit his claim to equality with themselves. 

He lost caste it is true, when his fearless advocacy of SpirituaHsm followed 
up his scientific lectures ; but even his enemies acknowledged the resistless 
influence of his eloquence, and the public gladly lent an ear to his common- 
sense arguments and commanding powers of expression. 

Mrs. Foye is one of the few test and physical Mediums whose manifesta- 
tions can be exhibited in a public audience. For upwards of twenty-five 
years, this lady has given her wonderful demonstrations of Spirit power 
in the presence of immense audiences in brilliantly-lighted halls, and 
under conditions so entirely free from the possibility of fraud that none but 
the most determined of antagonists could question her good faith. Calm, 
dignified, and self-possessed, she asks no conditions but quiet attention 
and keen scrutiny. A Medium of such rare and exceptional powers as 
this lady possesses, needs none of the apologetic writing and controversial 
discussion devoted to so many of her compeers, hence it is seldom that her 
name is micntioned in the Spiritual journals. It might be better for ''the 
cause" were it otherwise. As it would be a disgrace alike to the movement 
and the generation, to let both pass away without some honourable mention 
of a Medium whose manifestations have proved convincing to thousands, 
and are unassailable in any direction, whilst volumes are written on the 
merits of those whom a considerable proportion of the community denounce 
as " frauds," we have much satisfaction in giving space to a few reports on 
Mrs. Foye's work during her short visit to Australia. 

The first extract is copied from the New Zealand Echo, and reads as 
follows : — 

" Another visitor (from San Francisco) that gave us a flutter was Mrs. Ada Foye, the 
celebrated Californian test-medium. Mrs. Foye is a remarkable woman. Evidently 
•without education, she evinces in her addresses a faculty of clear statement, and a 
quickness and aptness of repartee quite refreshing to listen to. Her public seances at the 
School of Arts were a great success, and it is a pity she only gave three, as she was but 
just beginning to get known. Her method is as follows : Anyone who chose among the 
audience — and nearly every one appeared to choose — writes the name of some departed 
friend on a small piece of paper, aud rolls it up. These pellets are then placed on a small 
table on the stage, and make a pile half a foot high. Mrs. F. then takes a handful of 
them, and asks, ' Is there present any spirit whose name is on one of the papers in my 
hand?' If there is no answer, she takes another handful and repeats tbe question. If 
raps are given, she desires one of the audience to hold the pellets, and when an affirmative 
rap is given, she desires the spirit to give the name, the paper being held, still rolled up, 
by' the party who undertook this part of the proceeding. The answer is sometimes 
spelled out by raps, sometimes Mrs. F. sees it written in the air, and sometimes it is 
whispered to her, or is written automatically. She then desires the holder of the pellet 
to open it and see if the name is correctly given. Tlae writer of the name is then asked 
to declare himself, and to put to the spirit any questions be chooses. Not a single 
mistake was made, and when it is said that thirty or forty spirits answered each evening, 
it must be admitted that the seances are very wonderful. All possibility of collusion is 
entirely out of the question, as Mrs. F. was only in Sydney two or three days before the 
seances, and nearly all those receiving answers were well-known citizens, while each time 
the peUets were held by a different individual, most of them also well-known people. 
Mrs. Foye is now in Melbourne, and returns immediately to California without visiting 
New Zealand, having taken the trip for the benefit of her health," 
16 



242 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

As it is quite possible that few of our readers have ever seen any one 
who can equal Mrs. Foye as a test Medium and it may be long before we 
shall look upon her like again, at least in this generation, we crave permission 
to occupy more space than has been usually devoted to individuals in this 
record and give a summary of the proceedings of Mrs. Foye's opening 
meeting as reported in the Harbinger of Light of August, 1881 : — 

"MRS. ADA foye's PUBLIC TEST STANCES. 

" Mrs. Ada Foye, a lady who has attained a considerable degree of fame in America in 
consequence of the striking tests of Spirit presence and identity given in public through 
her Mediumship, has lately favoured this colony with a visit, and gave the first public 
demonstration of her powers in Melbourne at the Lower Temperance Hall on the evening 
of Wednesday, the 16th November. The proceedings, which were conducted by the lady 
herself in an admirably cool and collected way, comprised two portions ; first, a brief 
address on the subject of Spiritualism, including an account of the development of her 
Mediumship ; secondly, a series of tests given to various members of the audience. 

The chairman, W. B. Bowley, Esq., J. P., having in a few words introduced Mrs. Foye 
to her audience, she gave the following interesting account of the development of her 
mediumistic powers : — 

" ' At the age of twelve and a half years I was living in the suburbs of Boston (my 
native city). Both my father and mother were very earnest, devoted Christians, and, 
at my mother's knee, night after night was I taught my prayers ; and I thank God for 
it. My father being one of the pillars of the church, I was brought up very strictly, 
and was taught to believe that when the spirit left this world it went either up or down, 
and there it stayed. This will show how little prepared I was to believe in anything like 
spiritual manifestations. At the time that I became aware I was a Medium, my father 
and myself were both singing in the church choir, in Boston, and a lady who was singing 
with us, after the service, said, " Mr. Hoyt " (my father's name), " Suppose I go home to 
tea with you to-night. I have been to Rochester, and have heard what they call the 
Rochester knockiugs." (They were creating a good deal of excitement at that time.) "I 
have witnessed those manifestations," continued she, " and the spirits there said I was a 
Medium, and they could communicate with me, provided I would sit at home. After I 
got home from Rochester I sat at the table, and sure enough I got the raps. Now if you 
would like to hear them, we will have a sitting before the evening service." ' 

" After describing the seance that followed, and the amazement which the rappings 
and the intelligence they gave, created, Mrs. Foye went on to say : — 

" ' When I was a little girl, I used to see spirits beside me, and play with them and 
talk with them. I would give strange ideas to the people about me, and they used to say 
I was precocious, and going to die. From that time the manifestations continued by 
rappings and the moving of the table, chairs, and articles of furniture. These movements 
continued for two years, and after that they began taking my hand to write messages. 
I could not enumerate all the various phases of Mediumship that were developed day by 
day and year after year. Suffice it to say that I came before the public when about 
thirteen, and since then have been giving sdances nearly all over the United States, and 
for the last fourteen years in California. For two years after I became aware I was a 
Medium, I did not believe the manifestations were produced by spirits. This shows that 
it is not necessary to be a believer to be a Medium. I was very young, and was constantly 
sitting with men of science, religious men, and people who were forming circles to 
investigate these matters, and I was expecting every day to get the whole thing explained 
on some other hypothesis. The scientific men would say that it was electricity. They 
placed the legs of the chairs and tables in tumblers ; stretched batteries across the table, 
and completely insulated the table, so that if any raps were produced they would not be 
electricity, but still they rapped on. The more batteries they put the louder they would 
rap. Then the ministers came to pray with me, and to exorcise the spirits, and upon 
one occasion our good clergyman in East Boston came with two or three of the pious 
brethren, and we all knelt in prayer, to see if we could not stop the rapping ; but the 
louder Brother Sandford prayed the louder the spirits rapped. So the scientific men 
could not explain it, the religious people could not " lay " it ; and after two years of 
earnest mvestigation, not only by myself, but by scientific and religious men and women 
from all parts of the country, I made up my mind they were produced by departed 
spirits, and when any person once makes up their mind in this matter, after careful 
investigation, there is no backsliding. From that time I have been an earnest worker in 
the cause. I see spirits, hear them, feel them about me, knoiv that they are with me. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 243 

Some persons may say, " You are crazy." If I am, there is method in my madness. If 
you would only candidly investigate the subject, you would find something beyond 
explanation by chicanery, delusion, or even the devil. 

" I do not know what will be done here to-night any more than you do. The pheno- 
mena which usually occur are rapping, writing, seeing, and hearing. I sit quietly and 
passively. The raps will be produced upon the platform, the table, the wall, the chairs, 
or somewhere round about the table. I do not know where they will rap. In writing, 
spirits take possession . of my hand, and write upside down, from right to left, also in 
other languages, although I know none except Entjlish. As to seeing ; the spirits some- 
times write in the air. The letters look like letters of gold to me. You cannot see them, 
but the proof that I do is because the names and the answers to questions are given 
correctly. As to hearing, the spirits whisper to me, and tell me what they want to tell 
you, and what they tell is always pertinent and appropriate to the circumstances.' 

" The speaker concluded her remarks by stating that the only condition she imposed 
upon her audience was that of perfect stillness. The crying of a child, whispered conver- 
sation, or the rustling of persons moving about, would interfere with the manifestations. 
She then requested each person to write on a slip of paper the name of some departed 
friend or relative whom they wished to hear from, and fold the shp up. These were 
collected, forming a large number, and placed upon the table before the Medium. The 
following are selected as the best, or rather the most striking, since there could hardly be 
any ' best ' where there was not a single failure or inaccuracy, of the tests given : — 

" ' Are any friends here present ? — if so, please rap to us.' Mrs. Foye touched each of 
the folded slips or pellets in rapid succession, asking, 'Is this one here ? this ? this ? ' until 
three raps (for Yes) responded. The raps during the whole evening could be distinctly 
heard throughout the hall, proceeding from the table or platform. Mrs. Foye : ' Will 
some one take this paper, please, and keep it closed ? I see the name Reeds ; open the 
paper.' The paper was opened by the gentleman who held it, who read the name, ' Robert 
B. Reeds.' ' Did anyone know that person ?' A gentleman from the audience replied in 
he affirmative. Mrs. Foye : ' Ask him any question ; his age, for instance. Call over 
several numbers, including the right one among them.' The gentleman responded. Mrs. 
Foye : ' Between 25 and 26 ; I see those numbers right over your head.' The gentleman 
replied that this was correct. ' Now the cause of death ; call over some diseases.' Gen- 
tleman : ' Heart complaint ?' One rap (No). 'Dropsy?' One rap. 'Apoplexy?' Mrs. 
Foye : ' Wait ; they are going to write.' The Medium's hand was controlled to write 
rapidly the following message, upside down : ' I think it was apoplexy ; my departure 
was sudden.' The gentleman in the audience replied ' Yes ; it was sunstroke.' ' What 
part of the world did he die in ?' He called over the names of a few places. ' Melbourne?' 
One rap. ' Geelong ? One rap. ' Ballarat ? ' One rap. ' Sydney ?' Three rups (Yes). 
The gentleman stated this was correct. In answer to our reporter's inquiry, this gentle- 
man stated that he had never seen Mrs. Foye before that evening. 

" ' Some one is going to write in the air ; I can see the lines going to form, and then 
they go into letters. I can see the name Robert John Williams.' This was recognised 
by a lady in the audience, Mrs. Foye asked her, ' Are you acquainted with me ?' The 
reply was in the negative. ' Ask what age' (at time of death). The lady called over — 
' Eight months ?' No. ' Nine months ?' No. Mrs. Foye said, ' This spirit cannot write; 
will some spirit write for him ?' ' Eight months twenty-two days.' The lady who 
recognised the spirit confirmed this." 

Although the tests given on that and other occasions were very various, 
and the author has heard hundreds of test questions of a striking nature 
answered through Mrs. Foye's mediumship, the above examples are all that 
can now be quoted. 

It is but justice to this admirable Medium and the effect produced by 
her flying visit to the Australian colonies, to give the following brief extract 
from the Harbinger of Light concerning her farewell meeting : — 

" On the evening of Wednesday, the 23rd November, Mrs. Foye gave, in the Tempe- 
rance Hall, the last of her public seances, the proceeds of which by her desire were to be 
devoted to the funds of the Victovian Association of Spiritualists. The inclemency of 
the weather prevented quite as large an attendance as on the previous occasion. W. B. 
Bowley, Esq., J.P., presided. Mrs. Foye opened with a few remarks, on the conclusion 
of which Mr. W. H. Terry, on behalf of the Victorian Association of Spiritualists, read 
the following address ; — 



244 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 

"'VICTORIAN ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS. 

" ' 84, Eussell Street, Melbourne, November, 1881. 
" ' To Mrs. Ada Fote. 
" ' Dear Madam, — On behalf of the Victorian Association of Spiritualists, we desire to 
congratulate you on the success of your work during your brief stay in Victoria. The 
able expositions of the philosophy of Spiritualism which have been delivered in this 
city by such talented speakers as Dr. Peebles, Mrs. E. H. Britten, and Mr. Thomas Walker, 
supplemented by the efforts of local workers, have stimulated a spirit of inquiry and 
created a craving for phenomena demonstrative of the alleged facts of Spiritualism, which 
for some time past we have been unable to supply. Youi- advent amongst us has there- 
fore been particularly opportune, and the conclusive tests, which your truly wonderful 
mediumistic power has enabled you to give before large and intelligent audiences, have, 
to our certain knowledge, brought conviction of the grand truth of Spirit communion to 
many minds. 

" ' Those who have had the pleasure of personal intercourse with you during your 
brief sojourn, are unanimous in their appreciation of your earnestness and social worth, 
whilst your last act of placing your valuable services at the disposal of this Association 
and donating the receipts of this large house to the advancement of its objects, displayed 
a generosity which is not common. 

" ' Wishing you a safe and prosperous voyage, and hoping that circumstances will 
enable you ere long to pay us a more prolonged visit, 
" ' We are. Dear Madam, yours fraternally, 

" ' W. B. BowLET, President. 
'"S. G. Watson, \ ^t -n •■, . 
«'E. PUETON, 1 Vice-Presidents. 

" ' W. H. Terry, Treasurer. 

" ' A. VAN Etn van Alkemade, Hon. Sec' 

[" This address was subsequently beautifully illuminated by Messrs. Fergusson and 
Mitchell, of Collins Street, and forwarded to Mrs. Foye at Sydney.] 

'■ Mrs. Foye replied in a most pertinent speech. She thanked the members of the 
Association from the bottom of her heart for their kindness. Coming amongst them as 
a stranger, she had found herself received with warm hearts and -open hands. She would 
bear back to America pleasant remembrances of her sojourn here, and tell the people 
there of the kind reception she had met with. She expressed a hope to hear good news 
of the Association, and to find, on her return to these colonies, that it had doubled its 
numbers. She had never experienced a prouder or happier moment in her life than this : 
standing before the Victorian Association of Spiritualists. 

" A very beautiful piece of music was then rendered by the choir of the V. A. S., after 
which the stance took place in the manner and with the results before described." 

It is only necessary to add that during a period of a few weeks' residence 
in Australia, several hundreds of persons, all of whom were total strangers to 
Mrs. Foye, received tests of a similar character to those already mentioned. 
The narration of these seances cannot seem otherwise than cold, dry, and un- 
interesting. There is nothing to fix the attention of the reader in names, 
dates, and figures ; and even the messages that are frequently written by 
Mrs. Foye's hand, or perceived by her in phantom writing, are too personal 
to the individuals addressed to be of the smallest interest in recital. But 
let the reader put himself in the place of the recipients of these messages. 
Let him enter a large thronged public hall, and in imitation of hundreds 
of strangers around him, write on a piece of paper the name of the most 
beloved being he has ever known, one whose form has been mouldering in 
the silent tomb for over a quarter of a century, and of whose continued 
existence the whole universe has never given the slightest token. Let him 
watch whilst that name, so tightly folded up, that the writer himself could 
not pick it out from the heap of similar pellets before him, is yet singled 
out by a stranger and without even being touched by the Sybil, the name 
is loudly proclaimed. The relationship, mode and place of death, and 
events occurring during the long years that have since elapsed are told 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 245 

with unerring accuracy, and perhaps, some message is added, which none 
bat the vanished dead could give; and then — the Sybil passes on to 
another and another — all is told — all are lost in wonderment ; but to you — 
you, who have gone into that place a stranger, to find there — in those few 
seconds, and by those few commonplace tokens of identity — your dead 
alive again, and the whole problem of immortality solved beyond a shadow 
of doubt or denial ! ! What are not such commonplaces worth to those who 
receive them ! ! 

In the course of her public and private Mediumship, Mrs. Foye — who it 
may easily be perceived — speaks only American-English — and that in the 
least adorned methods of phraseology ; has written in ten different foreign 
languages — including even the Sanscrit, Kanaka, and Chinese characters. 
She has given hundreds of thousands of well-recognised test communica- 
tions, and besides the incalculable blessings she has showered upon the 
world by her marvellous Mediumship she is well known in her own private 
circle of loving friends, as a noble and beneficent woman — a good wife and 
a faithful mother. 

True she is only one of the much-despised class of " Spirit Mediums," 
but in that day when the books of life are all laid open and each one will 
be known for what they are, not for what they seem, who would not wish 
they could present as glorious a record as that which will be found inscribed 
in the archives of eternity, by Ada Foye, the Spirit Medium ? 

The latest sensation in the phenomenal Une in Australia has been created 
by Mr. Spriggs, for some years the non-professional Medium of " The Circle 
of Light " held at Cardiff, South Wales, from whence the remarkable mani- 
festations of " Spiritual materialization," alleged to be produced in this 
gentleman's presence, have been reported, in terms of high eulogy, in the 
colums of the English Spiritual journals by various correspondents. 

Mr. Spriggs did not appear to have been known by name in England, 
nor to have given sittings outside the Cardiff circle. 

Mr. Terry's arrangements with this Medium are claimed in the Harbinger 
of Light to be wholly independent of what some of the Spiritualists are 
pleased to term, "filthy lucre," "the greed of gain," &c., &c. 

Without attempting in this place to question why the use of time, service, 
and faculties, as a means of living, should be branded with opprobrium in 
Spiritualism, but be recognized as legitimate and commendable in every 
other department of human life, it is enough to render Mr. Spriggs all the 
justice claimed for him by his Australian friends, and record him as a 
strictly non-professional Medium. 

According to reports published from time to time in the Harbinger of 
Lights Mr. Spriggs's seances took place at Mr. Terry's office in Russell 
Street, an arrangement which Mr. Terry's well-known probity rendered 
highly satisfactory to the sitters. These latter were reported as being few 
in number, and elected beforehand by a committee appointed for that 
purpose. The manifestations were of the same character as those so 
frequently recorded in the Spiritual journals under the caption of " Furm 
materialization," &c., &c. Not on account of their rarity or novelty, but as a 
matter of history, we give the following extract from a report of one of 
those seances as published in the Harbinger of Light. 

We may add, one of its most special points of recommendation to the 
attention of the reader, is the fact that the report is given by Mr. H. J. 
Browne, for whose veracity as a gentleman, and capacity as an observer, 
almost every Australian Spiritualist would be willing to vouch. Mr. Browne 
says : — 



246 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLE:^ 

" I will now relate the particulars of another stance at which I was present lately, and 
at which I saw materialised forms walk about, and do several things which are common 
to intelligent human beings. . . . 

'' This seance was held in a room containing only ordinary office furniture. Across 
one corner, damask curtains were hung so as to open in the middle and at each end. 
Behicd tht-se curtains there was only a chair standing in the corner of the recess faced by 
the audience. There were present on this occasion seven persons in addition to myself 
and the medium, Mr. Spiiggs. The only light in the room, a candle, was shaded, but 
leaving sulficient light to see objects. We had the fullest evidence that behind the 
curtain there was only the medium, seated on the chair, with no appliances to enable him 
to personate others ; and during the seance we hau opportunity for seeing the medium on 
the chair at the same time that the materialised forms stood before us. . . . 

" The seance lasted about two hours, and during that time five different forms came 
out from behind the curtain ; figures of different sizes, and having a different appearance. 
One of the forms moved a cbak, shook hands with one of the audience, and spoke to him. 
Another, taking a bunch of flowers from the chair, divided them among the visitors, 
shaking hands with a lady next to myself. Another form, that of a man, walked before 
us, and had the appearance of a perfect human body, rendering by its opaqueness the 
objects on the other side from myself invisible. ... I know that it has been said 
these forms are no less than the medium in changed clothes, thus accounting for the 
naturalness of the whole appearance. I can only reply th it, for myself, I am quiiie con- 
vinced that while the form stood before me, the medium, in his usual clothing, was 
behind the curtain in an unconscious state. ... I was quite satisfied that the 
medium could not, under the circumstances, personate the departed." 

The next report of a seance with Mr. Spriggs is writcen about a year after 
the commencement of the Medium's acquaintance with his Australian 
friends, and evidently testifies to the progress that had been made in the 
Spirit control exercised. It is an editorial report headed : — 

" MR. GEORGE SPRIGGS' MATERIALISATION SEANCES. 

" The sittings during the past month have presented the usual features with which our 
readers are familiar, and also some new and important ones. At the sitting immediately 
following the close of our last month's report, a lady and gentleman from Chiltern were 
among the visitors. The Indian spirit, Ski-wau-kie, who speaks 'broken' English in 
what is known as the 'direct' voice, informed the lady that there was with her a 'squaw,' 
or female spirit-friend, who had passed over a long time since, and wlio was related to her, 
of the name of Isabella. The lady recognised an aunt of that name, who had passed 
away some 28 years ago, and considered it an excellent proof, as no one present but 
herself knew that she had had an aunt of that name. 'Ski' also told the gentleman his 
father was present with him, and gave the name correctly. 

" Geordie has manifested with his customary power, in the fuU glare of the light, 
walking about freely, approaching the sitters, and placing his face within a few inches of 
the eyes of the visitors. 

" The earlier sittings of the month were marked by an occurrence as striking as any 
that have been recorded during the progress of these manifestations. This was the 
recognition, by five different sitters simultaneously, and independently of each other, of 
a spirit-form as being that of an old colonist and well-known pioneer in the cause of 
Spiritualism, who passed over some five years ago. Amongst those who recognised this 
spirit were his son, daughter, and nephew. He came on two occasions, and displayed 
considerable emotion at being able thus visibly to manifest his presence to his relatives 
and friends. On the second occasion he shook hands with Mr. Carson, who stood up for 
the purpose, and who consequently had a better view, not only of the full form, but also 
of the wrinkled features, and thin beard . The same spirit afterwards transmitted a few 
words, using the identical phrase which was specially characteristic of him to those who 
knew him in earth-life, and mentioning (correctly) the incident which led to his 
investigation of Spiritualism." 

Several accounts are published of these seances at which the forms 
presented were "weighed and measured." 

For reasons with which many careful investigators will sympathize, we do 
not attach as much importance to this proceeding as to .some other 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 247 

methods of testing the phenomena. The extract already given, may be 
accepted as a fair sample of the general class of manifestations witnessed at 
Mr. Spriggs's circles. 

It now becomes necessary to speak of one of the most high-handed and 
arbitrary acts of tyranny on the part of the Victorian Government towards 
Spiritualism which the records of the movement can show. This was the 
interdict promulgated by " the Chief Secretary " against the proprietor of the 
Melbourne Opera House, forbidding him to allow the Spiritualists to take 
money at the door for admission to their services, and in effect, forbidding 
them to hold services there at all. A similar interdict had been issued in ■ 
the case of Mr. Proctor, the celebrated English lecturer on astronomy. 
The excuse for this tyrannical procedure in Mr. Proctor's case, might have 
been justified on the ground, that the Chief Secretary was entirely ignorant 
of the fact, that astronomy had anything to do with religion, or that it was 
not orthodox to talk about the celestial bodies on a Sunday, except in 
quotations from Genesis, or Revelations ; but in the case of " the Victorian 
Association of Spiritualists " it was quite another point. Spiritualism was 
their religion, and Spiritual lectures their Sabbath Day exercises, Messrs. 
Walker, Peebles, and Mrs. Britten, had occupied the Opera House for 
months together, and admission fees had been charged at each of their 
Sunday services, without let or hindrance. It was, and is, a well-known 
fact, that the Roman Catholics in most places where their services are 
conducted, charge a tariff for seats, varying according to the opportunities 
afforded for witnessing the ceremonies. 

It was, and is, also, well known, that pews in churches are a matter of 
barter and sale, and a thriving trade is driven in the buying and selling of 
"livings," otherwise called "rectorships," &c., &c. Besides all these prece- 
dents, any or all of which might have been — it was thought — of sufficient 
force to justify the Spirituahsts in charging modest fees for the seats which 
cost them a considerable rent to hire, it might also have been remembered 
that archbishops, bishops, and all the sacred hierarchy of Christendom, preach 
for hire, and that too, at very costly figures. Not a Christian sermon is 
preached, that does not cost so much a word ; hence, if the ministry of the 
Christian Church be a trade, or to put it in its mildest form, a lucrative 
profession, the only conceivable difference between the Christian and the 
Spiritual Church becomes reduced to the fact, that the Christians do their 
work on the Sunday but take their p4y on the week days, whilst the 
Spiritualists do theirs on the Sunday, but take their pay as they go. Pew 
rents and livings it is true are auctioned on week days, not Sundays, but 
the proceeds of this trade all centre on Sunday work, whilst the sale of 
Spiritualists' pew rents depends not on the puff of the auctioneer, but on the 
real value of what the people are going to hear. 

In the case under consideration it is quite possible that the Chief Secre- 
tary was a shrewd gentleman — one who could read the signs of the times, 
and mark with sorrow the deluded multitudes who left the Church pews 
vacant, to throng the seats at the Spiritualists' place of meeting. What better 
tactics could any Chief Secretary pursue than to force the deluded multi- 
tudes back again by closing up the attractions of the Spiritualists' meeting ? 
The expediency of the thing lay in a nutshell. The people wouldn't go to 
Church, and would go to Spirituahsts' meetings. Close up the latter, and 
the people may (?) perhaps, turn on their footprints, and go back to the 
Churches, A doubtful issue, but — worth the trial. 

Yet heaven forefend that we should attribute any such far sighted 



248 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

policy to an Australian Chief Secretary. What that gentleman's motives 
really were, and how patiently his Australian fellow-citizens endured his 
policy, will best be understood by the following excerpts, taken from the 
Harbinger of Light, February, 1882 : — 

" THE OPERA HOUSE DIFFICULTY. 

" Government Interference with the Sunday Services. 

" Intimation having reached the officers of the Victorian Association of Spiritualists 
too late for advertisement in the papers of Saturday, February 7th, that the Opera House 
would be closed against them the following day, some handbills were hastily printed for 
distribution amongst the congregation who began to assemble outside the Opera House 
at about half-past six p.m. on Sunday. In these they were invited to come up to Mr. 
Terry's Place in Russell Street, from the verandah of which Mr. Walker would explain 
the reason of the doors being closed against them. Accordingly, by seven p.m., about 
800 people were congregated on the road and pavements waiting anxiously for an explana- 
tion of the difficulty. At that hour Mr. Walker emerged from the window, and requesting 
the audience to remove from the footpaths to the road, and to do nothing illegal, briefly 
explained that through a threat from the Government the Opera House Company were 
constrained to refuse the use of their house for Sunday services. He therefore requested 
them to walk iu an orderly manner to the Horticultural Hall, where he would more fully 
explain the position. The progress of this large boJy through the streets naturally 
caused considerable excitement, doors and windows along the route being crowded by the 
inmates of the houses, curious to know the import of it. In a few minutes the hall was 
densely packed — aisles, platform, and ante-rooms being crowded, and a large number 
being unable to find even standing room. Mr. Walker, who was greeted with applause, 
reviewed the circumstances which led up to the present difficulty, characterising the 
interference as a blow at Freethought and freedom of speech, and urging them to resist 
it by all legitimate means. The audience heartily applauded the speaker's remarks, and 
an indignation meeting being suggested, it was announced that one would be held during 
the ensuing week ; and after a few concluding remarks from Mr. Walker, the meeting 
dispersed. 

" A public meeting was held at the Temperance Hall, Melbourne, on Thursday evening, 
February 16th, to protest against the interference of the Government with the Sunday 
lectures. Upwards of nine hundred persons were present. The chairman was supported 
by representatives of both the Victorian Association of Spiritualists and the Freethought 
Society." 

The speeches, resolutions, &c., which transpired at this meeting were of 
course strongly denunciatory of the tyrannical procedure of the Victorian 
Government. Attempts were made to extenuate this action on the part of 
some of the speakers, but the general sense of the meeting may be gathered 
from the following extract taken from Mr. Terry's report :— 

'' Mr. T. Walker moved the first resolution, which read as follows \— 

" ' That this meeting expresses its indignation at the recent action of the Government, 
which is calculated to suppress freedom of speech by interfering with the Sunday evening 
lectures.' 

" The chairman considered the word ' indignation ' to be ' rather strong,' but numerous 
cries of ' No, no ' from all parts of the audience indicated the contrary. 

"Mr. Thos. Walker said he was pleased to see that the meeting agreed with the 
wording of the resolution, and were disposed to consider it expedient that the word 
' indignation ' should be retained. When were they to express their indignation if not 
at the suppression of their liberties ? This was a matter that affected all who had an 
opinion to give that might difier from the reigning power. He did not think that anyone 
could become acquainted with the facts of the case without concluding that they had 
suffered an injustice. ..." 

The final result of this, and other gatherings to the same effect, may be 
judged of by a perusal of the following paragraph published in the 
Harbzuger 0/ Lig/if ofMarch, 1882: — 




HON^.":^ J. BOWIE Wilson. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 249 

" RESUMPTION OF THE OPERA HOUSE SERVICES. 

" On Friday last a letter was received from the Government, by the Executive of the 
Victorian Association of Spiritualists, intimating that the former had no desire to suppress 
the lectures, but endorsed the permit of May, 1879. The directors of the Opera House 
Company were interviewed, and on the understanding that no money be taken at the doors, 
consented to the opening of the House. The fact being announced in Saturday's papers 
drew a large audience to hear Mr Walker's lecture on Sunday, 'Lord Macaulay on 
Eoman Catholicism.' The services will be continued as heretofore, Seats in dress circle 
or stalls may be hired by month or quarter, at W. H. Terry's, 84, Russell Street." 

It can scarcely be doubted, that if measures at once so oppressive, 
vindictive, and narrow-minded as those directed by the Victorian Govern- 
ment against the Spiritualists, had been levelled against any of the thousand 
and one sects of Christianity, the " indignation meetings " resulting there- 
from, would have included all, and not a petty few of the citizens of 
Melbourne, whilst the Chief Secretary would have had to learn that he was 
the servant, and not the slave-driver of the people ; but the cause at issue 
was one which had emptied the pews of many a church and threatened an 
impending crisis in which the very services of the Church might ultimately 
be dispensed with altogether. What was to be done ? The Church had 
cried long enough " Great is Diana of the Ephesians ! " — but still the 
contumacious people wouldn't worship the Ephesian Diana, What more 
fitting in such a fearful crisis for highly-paid ecclesiastics, than to call in 
the authority of the State, to aid the effete power of the Church? And thus 
it was, that Church and State combined to do that noble work which single- 
handed they have heretofore been powerless to effect. They have wrought 
some harm to the SpirituaUsts, but it may be doubted whether the value 
of their own pew rents has been raised in the market. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AUSTRALIA — PART 11. (CONTINUED). 

In concluding our notices of AustraUan Spiritualism we must call attention 
to a few more noteworthy features of the movement, leaving the minor 
details in this, as in the Spiritual records of other countries to cluster 
around the representative cases. 

A somewhat unlooked-for episode, of recent date in Colonial Spiritualism, 
has been the development of remarkable healing powers in the person of 
Mr. George Milner Stephen, a gentleman of mature age, the father in fact 
of a family of adults, residing at Sydney. 

To the amiable wife of Mr. Stephen the author is indebted for a pamphlet, 
written by his son Mr. Harold Stephen, in which a detailed account is given 
of Mr. Stephen's family, Spiritual development, and marvellous cures, the 
chief circumstances of which will be found summed up in the following 
extracts, taken from the Religio Philosophical Journal : — 



250 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" GEORGE MILNER STEPHEN — THE NEW SPIRIT HEALER. 

" The people in Australia, and especially in the neighbourhood of Sydney, are greatly 
astounded at the cures which, within the year past, have begun to be performed by a 
barrister, Mr. George Milner Stephen, Mr. Stephen is highly connected, a fact which will 
go far to call attention to his remarkable powers. His father was first Puisne Judge 
at Sydney ; his uncle was a member of Parliament and Master in Chancery in 
England, &c., &c. . . . 

" George Milner Stephen entered early on official life in the Colonies, first as Clerk of 
the Supreme Court at Hobarton, Tasmania, then as Advocate-General in South Australia, 
and for a brief period as Acting Governor, in which capacity he received the thanks of 
Her Majesty's Government, and complimentary addresses from the colonists. Soon after, 
in 1840, he returned to England, married the daughter of Sir John Hindmarsh, acted as 
Secretary to the Government of Heligoland, and after pursuing his terms at the Middle 
Temple, was called to the Bar. Refusing the Colonial Secretaryship of New Zealand, he 
entered on the practice of law as a barrister, first at Adelaide and afterwards at Melbourne. 
He was Chairman of the Society of Fine Arts and first Vice-President of the Geological 
Society. In 1853 he returned and settled in London, interesting himself in Art and 
Mineralogy. He was an honorary member of several Continental scientific societies, and 
withal was an accomplished musician and painter. Returning to Melbourne in 1856, he 
resurued his practice as a barrister, sat in Parliament for Collingwood, and finally settled 
in Sydney, where he now resides. 

" He was a member of the Established Church, and had the usual horror of all new 
and eccentric opinions, until a few years ago, when he came into contact with certain 
spiritual phenomena, and after protracted study, was satisfied of the spiritual philosophy 
which lay behind them. Mr. Stephen's son has printed a pamphlet containing an account 
of his numerous cures. 

" It is a singular fact that while Mr. Stephen remained an Episcopalian, he could 
exercise no healing power whatever ; for on several occasions the spirits having announced 
that they were about to use him in some great work, he tested his powers as a healer 
upon various persons and produced no efl'ect. It was not until he had thrown orthodox 
Epis opalianism to the winds, and became a free Spiritualistic thinker that the power 
which Jesus promised to believers of the truth came to him. He had expected from his 
previous training as a barrister and speaker that he would be used as a speaker. The 
comiuK of bis gift as a healer was a surprise. 

" The following may serve as a sample of Mr. Stephen's mode of healing, Mr. Max L. 
Kreitmayer, of the Waxworks, writes to the Melbourne Argus as follows : — 

" ' Shortly after entering a saloon carriage on a trip to Sandhurst, on Saturday, April 
17, a man was carried in by a clergyinan and another gentleman, and laid on the seat. 
After his friends left him I entered into conversation with him concerning his malady. 
He informed me that he had been thrown out of a buggy some two months before, and 
had his spine injured ; that a week previously he took a Turkish bath, and in walking 
afterwards in Collins Street staggered and fell, and from that time had lost the use of hie 
legs ; that he was going to Castlemaine to get buried or cured, as his friends lived there. 
I gave one of his legs a good pinch, and he assured me that he did not feel it ; and conse- 
quently I put his case down as a decided case of paralysis. I noticed that when he wished 
to raise himself a little he had to hold on to the rack above, and on several occasions I 
lifted the legs off and on the couch, to change his position. At Gisborne Station Mr. 
George Milner Stephen (whom I knew by sight many years ago) entered the carriage, and 
had to sit close to the sick man for want of room. He offered his rug, to ensure more 
comfort, and naturally asked what was the matter. The man repeated his story, and Mr. 
Stephen, in a decided tone said, ' I can cure you.' My curiosity was aroused to fever 
heat, and I watched events. Mr. Stephen asked the patient to lie on his face, and after 
making a few passes and breathing on the supposed injured spot, he told him ' to rise,' 
which summons he obeyed with slight success, and he dropped on the seat again, saying 
that the pain seemed considerably less. He then rose and walked. After the lapse of 
some minutes, and after undergoing a similar process as before, the command was given 
by Mr. Stephen ' to rise and walk across the carriage,' which he instantly did, and returned 
again to his place without any support. In thirty-four minutes after leaving Gisborne, 
at Kyneton, I left the carriage for a few minutes, and on returning, to my astonishment 
the patient had gone. Looking out, I found him on the platform, walking about very 
carefully, and -on arrival at Castlemaine he took his luggage and walked away. Altogether 
the affair has been so vividly impressed upon my mind that I can recall the most trifling 
conversation or incident on this ever-memorable journey.' 

" The following from the Sjdnej' Daily Telegraph, of 24th July last, is less graphic 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 251 

than some of the more minute descriptions, but will suffice to show how strongly the 
community are stirred by Mr. Stephen's cures : — 

" ' The scene at the Temperance Hall yesterday afternoon, both inside and in the 
street, defies description. When Mr. Milner Stephen arrived, shortly after two o'clock, 
there was a dense crowd collected on the pavement for some yards ou either side of the 
door, which was closed, and it was with difficulty that he could make his way through 
the mass of people who had been eagerly awaiting his appearance. The lower hall having 
been taken for the Canary Show, the upper hall was given for the scene of his operations. 
As on previous occasions, there was a gathering of the "incurables" of the metropolis 
and suburbs, including " the lame, the halt, and the blind." Many sufiFering pains more 
or less violent were clamorously invoking Mr. Stephen's power to relieve their agonies. 
He appeared to be in great force, as he literally " ordered " pains away rij?ht and left ; and 
as the various subjects of his benevolence invoked blessings upon his head, we may 
reasonably assume that they experienced relief. The afflicted reached their arms on to 
the platform, praying him " only to touch them," which he did, and invariably received 
the grateful acknowledgments of the sufferers. In most of the cases Mr. Stephen simply 
placed his hands upon the people's heads to drive away rheumatism or rheumatic gout, 
or the other ills from which they were suffering. Bystanders of all ranks were looking 
on astonished as people made their way througli the crowded hall to the platform, and 
as they left after being treated by Mr. Stephen, many eager questions were asked as to 
the number of years' suffering they had endured, whether all their pains had disappeared, 
and the like. In all, about fifty people were thus sent away, expressing their belief that 
they were cured, and their astonishment at the wonderful power of the healer.' 

" This is probably the first instance in the history of the world in which one born a 
gentleman, all of whose associations are aristocratic, whose mind is not only cultured but 
rare in its diversity of accomplishment, and whose whole life has been a social success, 
has become a minister of healing to the poor." 

The editor of the Religio Philosophical Jourrial is in error in respect to the 
statement contained in his closing paragraph. The experiences of Prince 
Hohenlohe as detailed in the section on Germany, of Madame Saint 
Amour in France; of the late Mr. J. C. Luxmoore, of London, and 
numerous other ladies and gentlemen of rank and high standing, known to 
the author as healers of great power, but whose unostentatious benevolence 
is not publicly recorded — except in rare instances — prove that the gift of 
healing is not limited to either sex or station, but exists — like all other 
gifts — as an attribute of specially endowed individuals. 

The residents of Melbourne have not yet forgotten the astounding cures 
of blindness from birth, and of some deaf and dumb lads, who had been 
born so — effected by Mr. T. W. Singleton, of Melbourne, a gentleman of 
good professional and social standing. The above-named cures were never 
designed by Mr. Singleton to be brought before the public, and they never 
would have been so, had they not obtained inevitable notoriety from 
the following circumstances : — The cures in question had been performed 
on patients, some of whom were inmates of the Melbourne Blind Asylum. 
Early in September, 1877, the editor of the Melbourne Age, with great 
humanity as well as courage, brought forward the fact that one or more of 
the young men who had been thus marvellously benefited by Mr. Singleton 
had been maltreated and injured by the asylum superintendent. 

The scandal of such a report compelled a public investigation, the 
details of which do not belong to this history, except inasmuch as the 
proceedings called forth a letter from Mr. J. VV. Singleton, published in The 
Age of September 12th, 1877, in which will be found a concise account of 
the cures effected on subjects horn bli7id, deaf, aftd dumb. 

Mr. Singleton's letter is as follows : — 

" To the Editor of The Age. 

" Sir, — In justice to myself and some of the unfortunate inmates of our Asylum for 
the Blind, there is necessity to reply to some uncharitable remarks made respecting me at 



252 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

yesterday's meeting. On the 22nd April last I applied to the committee for permission 
to continue the treatment of an inmate named Helen Latimer, who, at her friends' 
request, was treated by me during her holidays last December. The rapid improvement 
in her case caused a very natural desire to complete the cure, and accomplish so much 
good to a suffering fellow-creature. I offered at the same time to treat any other inmate 
the committee selected gratuitously, wishing them to visit me under care of an attendant. 
I invited one or aU the committee, which included Dr. Rudall, to my house to inspect the 
mode of treatment by the magnetic process, and its result on some of my patients ; Alex. 
Wilson, in particular, who was well known to Mr. Moss, the secretary of the Deaf and 
Dumb Institute, as having been an inmate for many years, and was born deaf and dumb. 
This patient could neither hear nor speak until treated by me, and, although twenty-two 
years qf age, can hear, speak and read aloud now. After two months' consideration I was 
informed that my offer was respectfully declined. Shortly after my application I was 
visited by one of the inmates, who asked my opinion on his case, being blind from birth, 
who expressed a wish to prove for himself whether the deaf heard and the dumb spake, 
which he proved the following evening ; and the fact of his telling his companions of this 
made them naturally desire to try if they could be cured. Many came to me, but I only 
treated the first eight that came, on the understanding that Dr. Rudall was not doing 
anything for them ; in fact, that they were all incurables. The results were particularly 
gratifying to me and joyful to the boys, as they will state for themselves, "Walker being 
able to read part of the newspaper, see pictures and objects a mile off, before he was 
struck in the eye by the superintendent ; and Cockburn could see his way about, tell 
colours, see large letters, and was progressing well before Mr. Lovell struck him. The 
other boys have each made more or less progress. I refute Mr. Moss's imputation of 
inveigling the boys to my house. They came of their own accord, as any other of my 
patients, and were made aware that I practised as a magneti? healer or psycopath. Walker 
and Cockburn were among my free patients, and I think it cruelly hard on them to forbid 
the completion of their cure because they have no friends, or that Dr. Rudall forbids it. 
Should the committee desire it, I will attend on Friday next and answer any fair and 
straightforward questions. I have only been actuated by pure motives and real sympathy 
for the poor young sufferers, and herewith renew my application to the committee to allow 
me to treat ten out of the 110 inmates, and let Dr. Rudall operate on the balance. My 
own conviction, from the knowledge of the magnetic power, is that fully one-half of the 
inmates can be cured, or partially so. With apologies for occupying both time and space, 
and admiration for your noble action in protecting the helpless, I am, &c., 

" Simpson Street, East Melbourne. J. W. Singleton." 

Mr. Singleton's methods of cure were practised quietly and without any 
attempts to bring them before the public, in the privacy of his own ofifice. 
He himself assured the author the publication of the above letter was 
enforced upon him by the attendant circumstances, but he expressed a wish 
that the reprint of his letter as a mere matter of history should be the only 
notice given of his beneficent work. 

As Mr. Stephen's pamphlet fortunately places the cures he has effected 
before the world without restriction, we are free to add one or two more 
extracts, and these, the reader will observe, only refer to cases wherein the 
names and addresses of the parties benefited are given in full :— 

" To the Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. 

" June 10th, 1880. 
" Dear Sii*, — Mr. G. MUner Stephen has asked me to state the circumstances of _ his 
late instantaneous cure of my attack of gout, which I had been suffering from ever since 
laying the foundation-stone of the new lighthouse, South Head, on the 1 8th of April last. 
My knees were so very weak that I could not get up from a seat without the assistance of 
my hands ; and on sitting upon a log with a friend the same morning, at Balmain, whilst 
waiting for the steamer, I could not rise without assistance. Whilst sitting in a chair in 
Mr. G. R. Dibbs's room, in presence of Captain Hixson, R.N. (the President of the Marine 
Board), Captain Heselton, and another gentleman, Mr. Stephen entered the room, and 
after some joking on my part as to his healing power, he stooped down and breathed into 
each of my knees, and then made a pass across them (as if driving away the disease), 
saying, ' Gone ! ' I instantly rose from the chair without the slightest difficulty, and to 
the astonishment of myself and friends, I sat down and got up on several chairs in 
succession, and then sat down on the ground and got up without any assistance. After 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 253 

lunch, the same day, at the Royal Hotel, I raced Mr. J. Pope down the stairs and back 
again, taking two steps at a bound. On the 24th of last month the stiffness returned for 
a short time, but I am now as well as I have been for years. 

" I am, &c. , 
" 125, Sussex Street, Sydney, June 3. John Broomfield." 

" We witnessed the occurrence referred to, and were assured by Captain Broomfield 
that he experienced instant relief from a complaint in the knee-joints he had been 
suffering from. 

" Francis Hixson, Thomas Heselton, 
R. Dibbs, John Pope." 



" Manly, 19th June, 1880. 

" My dear Sir, — At your request I have much pleasure in stating the particulars of my 
deafness, and the effects of your treatment for the relief of it. For 20 years I have been 
almost stone deaf with one ear, and I had become so deaf in the other that even with 
the use of a long telephone tube, I could only distinguish loud speaking, and could not 
hear a sound of music ; and indeed I was obliged to relinquish a valuable appointment in 
consequence. Since your operation upon both ears I am enabled to enjoy the softest tones 
of the harp when played by my daughter ; and the clearness with which I heard the 
conversation you addressed to me, without even putting a hand to my ear, in the presence 
of Messrs. R. Want and A. Allen, the well-known solicitors, and Mr. Larnach, proves the 
great benefit I have thus far obtained. To myself and friends it is most astounding and 
gratifying, as at my age I could not have expected such a wonderful improvement in my 
stone deaf ear. I have also been suffering from asthma a long time, but since you 
breathed into my chest I have been very greatly relieved. Your simple yet effective mode 
of operation — viz., the laying on of hands, and breathing into each ear — proves the curative 
power, or whatever it may be termed, to be most extraordinary, and well deserving the 
careful study of all scientific men. I hope your good and disinterested labour, to do good 
and benefit others, may be a source of happiness and blessing to yourself. 

" Yours, &c., Charles Kent, 

" P.S. — I omitted to state that within five minutes after laying on of your hands I 
heard you speak distinctly with the stone deaf ear. Mr. Russom, J.P., was present at the 
time. — G. Milner Stephen, Esq." 

Besides an immense number of similar cases reported in Mr. Harold 
Stephen's pamphlet, several of the Australian secular papers as well as the 
Harbinger of Li^ht report numerous others equally well attested. The 
reader's attention is more especially solicited to these instances of cure by 
the laying on of hands, first, because Mr. Stephen himself reverently 
attributes them " to the divine agency of good spirits, and angels," 
operating through his willing instrumentaUty; next, because they form a 
curious commentary upon the position assumed by one of the leaders of 
the Christian Clergy, in the person of Dr. Moorhouse, the present Bishop 
of Melbourne. In the Melbourne Argus of March 13th, 1880, a sermon 
preached by Bishop Moorhouse is reported, in which the following sentence 



" The sacred writer, Saint James, directs that the elders of the church shall anoint the 
sick and pray over them, encouraging the practice by the example of Elijah. But it is 
obvious that in an age when miraculous healing was a common gift, such direction was 
reasonable, and such an illustration apposite. Does any sober Christian believe in the 
continuance of these miraculous gifts ? If they do not so believe, then how can either 
the exhortation or the illustration apply to the present time ? " 

In a small pamphlet sent to the author within the current year (1883), 
entitled "Apparitions and Miracles at Knock," ihe compiler quotes from 
the diary of Archdeacon Cavanagh — an eye witness of what he records — a 
list of nearly 300 cases of divers diseases " miraculously," and in some 
instances "instantaneously cured," at the Knock Chapel. Are Archdeacon 
Cavanagh and Mr. MacPhilpin, the compiler of this book, "sober Christians," 
or what else would Bishop Moorhouse term them ? 



ii 



254 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The author is in possession of over 5,000 certificates of cures effected by 
the laying on of hands through Dr. J. R. Newton, and other magnetic 
healers of America, very many of the patients being as " sober.- Christians " 
as Dr. Moorhouse. 

But as Ireland and America may be deemed by Dr. Moorhouse too far 
away to enable him to accept of testimony from thence in so grave a matter, 
here are cases of what in olden times would have been termed " miraculous 
cures," going on within his own diocese, through Mr. Milner Stephen, and 
at the very time when he is preaching denials of their possibility ! Is it 
worthy of a Christian Bishop to close his eyes determinedly to great and 
important facts, because they happen to conflict with his preconceived 
opinions? or are there no Christians amongst his hearers sober enough to 
advise him against " wresting" and perverting texts of scripture to suit 
those very erroneous allegations ? 

There is scarcely a Colonial paper now published but what has had, or 
still has, some new cases of cure effected by Mr. Milner Stephen — and these 
cases involve the published testimony of hundreds of living men and women 
as sober and trustworthy as Bishop Moorhouse himself. How can he 
dispose of all these on his hypothesis ? 

There is yet another point of testimony to be offered on this subject 
which proves how determinedly the Schools as well as the Church repel all 
attempts at innovation upon old established forms, and cry, "Great is 
Diana of the Ephesians!" when they find their craft in danger. It appears 
that Mr. Milner Stephen tendered service to the Hospital Committee of 
Sydney, offering to treat a given number of obdurate cases by his 
perfectly innoxious, but often efficacious methods of cure. 

As Mr. Milner Stephen did not make this proposal until he had publicly 
demonstrated to the satisfaction of hundreds of irespectable witnesses his 
ability to perform what he undertook, it was an insult alike to the 
community, and the cause of humanity, as well as to the gentleman who 
tendered his services in that cause, when the Hospital Committee returned 
a sneering answer to the effect that the proposal in question was too absurd 
to be entertained. Regretting that we cannot devote more space to the 
beneficent work reported of Mr. Stephen, we must pass on to notice other 
representative phenomena occurring in the Colonies. 

At a private circle held in New South Wales by a party of ladies and 
gentlemen, some of whom were operators in the Magnetic Telegraph Office, 
the controlling Spirits had been frequently asked if they could not give 
communications through telegraphic signals. An affirmative promise having 
been obtained, at the period set for the experiments, the following results 
ensued, for the strict veracity of which the author has the testimony of a 
number of respectable witnesses : — 

" Friday, August 20th, 1880. — 'Met pursuant to adjournment same circle, consisting 
of four sitters. After sitting around the table, placing oui- hands on it for fifteen minutes, 
the key of the instrument was used. All the signals that were given were the same as 
used in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, and were quite correct. Mr. 
Johnston named every letter in the alphabet, which were given through the instrument 
quite correct. Meeting adjourned to Tuesday.' 

"Tuesday, 24th August, 1880. — 'Met again to-night, half -past eight o'clock; same 
circle, same room, instrument in its usual place. Sat an hour and a half. Soon after 
taking our seats, the armature at the instrument commenced working ; the name of 
Edward Erskine was spelled out — Mr. Cane says very correctly. There were also very 
strong raps or knocks given on the table. Darkness was asked for, and given, when 
strong manifestations ensued ; spirit lights appeared near the key of the instrument ; 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



'55 



hard slaps, which all could hear, were given to three of the sitters several times ; Mr. 
Johnston was touched on the knee, arm, and head. At this time all hands of the sitters 
were joined ; a fur cap was also carried from one part of the room and put down in front 
of Mr. J., passing his face, and falling between his feet ; also a chair, away from any of 
the sitters, removed and upset. Most of this time the armature at the instrument was 
working, making considerable noise.' " 

Between this date and September 14th, little progress was made; but on 
that occasion the record says : — 

" Circle met to-night at half-past eight ; all the members present. Within one minute 
after taking our seats at the table, raps and loud knocks were given ; the armature at the 
instrument commenced to work strongly, rapidly, and well, spelling the alphabet down to 
the letter K quite correctly ; then a sound, known as a laugh ; then a short message was 
given — ' We are sorry we could not be present the last two ; ' then we asked if the word 
' nights ' was meant ; three loud raps were given in response. Question asked — ' Would 
they be able to work the instrument perfectly ? ' Answer, ' Yes.' " 

The next excerpt records an experiment in Spirit photography, the value 
of which must not be estimated by the slight results obtained, but by the 
crucial test conditions under which the operations were conducted, and the 
unimpeachable veracity of the parties concerned. 

The narrator is Mr. Cyril Haviland, a gentleman resident in Sydney ; one 
well known for his literary ability and unexceptionable social standing. 
Mr. Haviland's testimony carries deep weight with all his large circle of 
acquaintances. Writing to the Harbinger of Light of April, 1882, he 



" Dear Sir, — I append for publication a copy of declaration made by me of the par- 
ticulars surrounding the fact of my taking a photograph of a spirit, and as that will 
explain the details I need say no more thun this, that after my lecture on Tuesday night 
last, in Sydney, on ' Spiritualism as a Science,' in accordance with an ofifer made by me to 
go to anyone's house for the purpose of trying to get spirit photographs, two ladies 
oflfered to sit, one having been promised such proof by her spirit friends, and the other 
stating she had obtained them some years ago in Victoria. 

" This latter lady I appointed to meet on Saturday afternoon last, at her own home, 
and I took with me my own camera, lenses, plates, and apparatus. I exposed eight plates, 
and on the third only obtained anything beyond those visibly present in the room. 

" On this plate appears most distinctly a baby, about two years of age, well dressed, 
with a toy trumpet in his hand. — Yours faithfully, 

"E. Cyril Havujand. 

" Sydney, N.S. Wales, 25th April, 1882." 

The declaration referred to only reiterates in detail the substance of 
what is given above, though it is reported that numerous other experiments 
of a still more important nature in Spirit photography are now in progress. 
The parties concerned being in private life, and unwilling to allow their 
names to appear in full, we can only allude hopefully to the fact, although 
we cannot report it authoritatively. 

The following extracts are reports of different writers concerning the 
progress of Spiritualism in their various districts. They are all taken from 
the Harbinger of Light : — 

" Murrurundi, N. S. W., May 2nd, 1877. 
" In January last, I and a few friends formed a circle for investigation. We sat for 
perhaps more than a week without any result, and were beginning to despair of having 
any manifestations, when we were blessed with results that thoroughly convinced us all of 
the truth of spirit-communion. We have now, at every sitting, some very remarkable 
evidences of spirit power. In one instance, we had a message in direct writing from a 
spirit giving the name of 'Flora.' Flowers have been laid upon the table on several 



256 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

occasions, and beautiful lights float about the room. I am already somewhat developed 
as a writing medium, and receive some very intelligent and useful messages from various 
spirits through the planchette. But the most remarkable thing in regard to my medium- 
ship, is the writing of messages in French and German — languages of which I am entirely 
ignorant, and which messages have to be translated for me by those present, who under- 
stand those languages. We have had rappings on the top of the table in good lamplight ; 
chairs have moved about the room without human contact, and, on the whole, we have, 
for a young circle, witnessed some very wonderful phenomena. At our last sitting we 
had a perfect volley of small pebbles showered about our heads, and some beautiful 
lights. I may state that these things have been witnessed among a circle of honest 
investigators, when there could not be the slightest chance of trickery or deception of any 
kind. — I remain, dear Sir, yours fraternally, 

"P. Jefferson Wallace." 

" THE CHILTERN CIRCLE. 

"Those who read my experiences of Spirituahsm in England, published in the Harlinger 
of 1873, will remember that I narrated some very extraordinary phenomena occurring 
in the presence of private and public mediums. I have had the pleasure lately of being 
present at the above circle by invitation of the spirits themselves. Our medium is a 
young married man with a family. He is an engineer, and is employed by the Chiltern 
Valley Gold Mining Company. His mediumship came upon him unsolicited. The 
intelligence manifesting through him professes to be his brother ' George,' whose earthly 
life was cut short by being killed in the mine at which Eobert is now engineer. Other 
spirit friends co-operate with him at seances. The circle is generally composed of personal 
friends and relatives, but the same people do not always sit together, nor do they retain 
particular seats. They have changed their place of meeting repeatedly without any 
cessation of the phenomena. The medium, Mr. Robert Brown, is a steady sober man, 
and his wife is a firm believer in his wonderful intercommunication with the other world. 
He and wife and two children accompanied us to the house where they have sat for some 
time. 

" We had hardly seated ourselves, all holding hands, when loud raps, as with knuckles, 
were heard from the table. The alphabet was called for, and ' sing ' was elicited. Merry 
songs were sung the whole evening, and seemed to elicit manifestations of the best kind. 
I, who had been seated outside the circle, was now made to take a particular seat by the 
spirit voice. Lights like glow-worms flickered about over our heads. The medium was 
ordered to stand on the table, and several voices seemed vieing with one another as to 
who could speak loudest. 

" The singing, whistling, and shouting, and all communications were in loud tones, and 
each diSerent from another. We were all called by name, and towards the end Mr. 
Pringle, who was present with his wife, was addressed by ' George,' who, as I have already 
said, was buried in the mine. The spirit said, ' Keep the laths well ahead, Pringle, for 
the ground is flaky.' The kind spirit did not desire that Mr. Pringle should leave his 
family prematurely, and this caution was given because he saw the danger, and 
remembered his own untimely end. 

" After all this had been repeated again and again, George said, ' I will tell you the 
time if you strike a light. It is four minutes to ten o'clock.' A match was struck, and 
the clock on the chimney-piece pointed to the exact minute named. 

" AU present heard the time given, and saw the hands of the clock when the match 
was struck 

" Chatern, July, 1877. " W. L. R." 

In the Harbinger of Light and some of the Australian secular papers, 
accounts are given of powerful physical manifestations obtained through 
the mediumship of Mrs. Paton, of Castlemaine. As in the case of Mr. 
Robert Brown, the demonstrations through this lady occur in the dark, 
but the doors are invariably closed and locked, and every precaution taken 
to avoid the shadow of suspicion or the chances of deception. Besides the 
usual manifestations of fruit, flowers, and other objects being introduced 
through the well-secured door — on one occasion, a burning hot flat iron was 
brought in, apparently from the kitchen, the only room in the house where 
a fire was kindled. The seance was being held at a considerable distance 
from the kitchen ; the iron was far too hot to be touched by any one present, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 257 

and yet the one door of the apartment was carefully locked, and the key 
inside the pocket of one of the sitters. 

Much ridicule was levelled against this manifestation by the editors of 
certain journals in which it had been reported as a remarkable phenomenon. 
These sneering critics however seem to have forgotten that the real question 
at issue was not the dignity of the manifestation, but the utter impossibiUty 
of any human agency in its production. 

A curious phase of Spiritual writing is reported from Clear Creek, 
Yackandandah, by a reliable observer, and correspondent of the Harbinger^ 
Dr. A. Mueller, who in describing the seances of a young lady in private 
life, Miss Elizabeth H., says : — 

" Miss Elizabeth H. is a bright unsophisticated girl of fifteen, whose mediumistic gifts 
for automatic and direct writing are, considering the short period of her development, of 
a very high order. I availed myself of Mr. Chappell's kind invitation to his house on the 

29th of last month, and again on Saturday the 19th instant I purchased a 

pair of slates on my way to Mr. C.'s house, where I found, at 8 p.m., the medium with 
Mr. and Mrs. Chappell, a brother of the latter, and Mr. Crambrook, with his daughter, 
awaiting my arrival. Evidently to make things as congenial as possible to the medium, 
we sat, at the special request of the controlling spirit, in a back room of the house, used 
alike as kitchen and dining-room, The medium took her seat, facing the brightly burning 
wood fire, whilst in writing through her the spirit directed me to sit beside her, thus 
enabling me to observe her closely, even after the candle was put out." 

After descriptions of several seances in which the ordinary forms of slate 
writing were produced, together with pertinent answers to questions and 
messages from deceased friends, the following extraordinary results were 
reported by Dr. Mueller as occurring at a recent circle. He says : — 

" Placing an open book reversed before the medium I asked her to put the point of her 
left index finger at random on a line of the print, whilst her right hand held the slate 
underneath the table as usual, and then shading the page with my own hand, I requested 
that the word covered by the medium's fiuger might be written on the slate. We heard 
the writing sound almost immediately, and on the slate being raised found the word ' of ' 
written on it. On referring to the book, on which the medium's finger had never moved, 
we found that ' of ' was the word immediately before the point of the finger in the same 
line.. The experiment was repeated a second time in the same manner, and the word 
'for' found to correspond on the slate and in the book. In the same manner the words 
'spirit,' and 'period,' were written correctly and rapidly. I then changed the experiment 
by taking the medium's hand and having mentally selected the words ' the warrior prince,' 
placing her finger on 'warrior,' but at the same time keeping my own hand between < er and 
the piiut in order to preclude even the possibility of her seeing it. Though passive as she 
was throughout the evening, I felt convinced that she never even attempted to read, and 
having her right hand fully employed in holding a heavy slate horizDntally under a deep- 
framed table without any support, could not possibly write on it at the same time with the 
point of the small pencil. The words 'the' and 'prince' came out in succession on the 
slate ; but simultaneously with the latter, and immediately below it, a plainly-written 
' good-night ' announced the conchzsion of the sitting. Looking at my watch I found it 
was then exactly 10 o clock, the very hour, either by coincidence, or a kind regard for my 
wishes on the part of our invisible guest, beyond which, I resolved on sitting down, not 
to prolong the seance, though deeply interested as I was, I had forgotten both my 
resolve and the lupse of time. 

" Yackandandah, 22nd October, 1877." 

The same respected and capable observer, Dr. Mueller, gives several other 
accounts of circles which he attended in different districts, in Victoria, and 
New South Wales. As a final representation of how circles were formed 
and conducted in Australia and how the cause of Spiritualism became 
popularized in the absence of organized means of propagandism, we give 
the following extracts from Dr. Mueller's account of The Barnawartha 
Circle. He writes thus, in 1876 ; — 
17 



258 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" The Banawartha Circle has now been in existence for nearly three years. Some 
experiments in table-turning instituted for mere amusement's sake at a social meeting of 
two families, the members of which are all more or less mediumistic and now form the 
majority of the circle- gave the first rise to it. They knew nothing of Spiritualism 
except by hearsay, but the results at their first impromptu seance unmistakeably pointed 
to some intelligence not their own having been among them. They sat again with even 
increased manifestations, and then having become acquainted with the mode of conduct- 
ing Spirit circles, they determined on following up the subject, and sat regularly twice 
a week. The physical manifestations assumed in the course of the development of the 
circle a very violent character. At almost every sitting the round table — no matter how 
tightly fastened to the frame and legs — was broken asunder, and whilst the latter were 
left on the floor, the round leaf, made of thick pine boards, was whirled about the room 
over the heads of the sitters, and often out of their reach though standing on tip toe. 
No injury was ever inflicted on any of the members by this quasi animated piece of 
furniture careering about the room, but on one occasion, whilst rather noisy manifesta- 
tions were going on, a curious neighbour had slipped into the room unobserved and 
crouched down in a corner. He had, as he confessed subsequently, scarcely settled in his 
supposed hiding place, when the table pounced down upon him from the ceiling, where it 
had been suspended, and belaboured his skull and back so eflectively that he had to cry 
for mercy and beat a precipitate retreat. For a long time manifestations of this kind, 
convincing certainly, though not very elevating, were carried on, varied at times by 
levitations of a lady medium. The circle was also much retarded in its development, and 
at one time nearly broken up by the exigencies of life calling away some of its members. 
Now, however, they are all together again, and the manifestations have entirely changed 
in character through the accession of another and very powerful medium. This change 
was announced by the long and ardently desired spirit raps greeting the circle at the very 
first stance the new medium attended. They were muflied and scarcely audible at first, 
but are now clear and ringing, and by means of them and the alphabet a running con- 
versation is carried on between the circle, and its mysterious invisible guests. Then came 
spirit lights floating about the room, shedding a faint whitish light on the objects nearest 
to them. Soft, velvety, touches, gliding along the heads and faces of the sitters will send 
a thrill of delight through their frames, hands warm and life-like will grasp theirs. The 
latest phase of development is the production of the spirit voice." 

After describing these and the ordinary physical manifestations which 
occur at circles of this character, Dr. Mueller gives an account of one seance 
worth narrating, as involving a circumstance by no means of an ordinary 
character. The wife of the principal Medium before referred to, Mr. Robert 
Brown, being present with her baby in her arms, the following scene took 
place : — 

" All at once, Mrs. Brown complained that the blanket the baby was wrapped up in 
was being tugged and pulled away from it, and suspecting this to be done with a view of 
taking the child from her, declared that she would not let it out of her arms for fear of 
its being hurt. Raps now came for the alphabet, and the words, " Baby will be given to 
father " were spelled out. Still Mrs. B. hesitated, when her head and face were touched 
and stroked so caressingly that, as she stated, almost involuntarily she had to loosen her 
hold of the child. Immediately she felt the blanket pulled and the child taken from her, 
and whilst she exclaimed, ' It is gone,' I felt the little head pass my arm in an upward 
direction. Gone certainly the child was ; but where ? The father declared that it had 
not been brought to him, and for a few moments all was silence and anxious suspense. 
We then heard a faint baby's cry coming from the far corner of the room, and high under 
the ceiling, and after that sounds as if kisses were being showered upon the child, seemed 
to accompany it in an aerial flight all round the room above our heads, the sounds inter- 
mingled with a snuffling noise, evidently made by the child, coming from different and 
opposite directions successively. Suddenly I felt the little body pressed against my face, and 
passing on in the direction of the lady on my left, who also felt it distinctly brush her face, 
and immediately afterwards the father announced that the child had been safely deposited 
in his arms. Having watched the development of this circle for some years with much 
interest, and being personally acquainted with its members, it appears to me the height 
of absurdity to suppose that these people should have met for three years twice a week 
for the purpose of practising how most effectually to deceive each other, or an occasional 
visitor. So far from inviting people to their meetings, they are tardy in admitting 
strangers, after having been told over and over again by their spirit friends, that the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 259 

presence of most visitors disturbs the harmony and retards the development of the circle. 
To gain notoriety in an unpopular cause, which must be anything but favourable to 
their worldly interests, could, therefore, scarcely be alleged as the object they have in 
view in practising fraud. Moreover, one cannot converse vtith them for many minutes, 
see their genuine enthusiasm for the cause of Spiritualism, their firm conviction of the 
reality ' of the spirit world, and of their intercourse with it, observe how cordially they 
are united together by the common cause all have so deeply at heart, and then — however 
suspicious of human nature — harbour another thought of their producing by deception 
the marvellous phenomena one witnesses at their meetings." 

In Sandhurst, the old mining district, once so familiarly known as 
" Bendigo," a party of ladies and gentlemen whose characters are beyond 
reproach or suspicion have met together to hold periodical seances under 
the cognomen of " The Energetic Circle of Sandhurst." How far this 
gathering has succeeded in enhsting the respect and good will of the 
outside world may be learned from the following brief paragraph published 
in the Melbourne Argus, as an account of an entertainment given by the 
members of the circle above named. The editor says : — 

" The Sandhurst ' Energetic Circle ' of Spiritualists gave an entertainment, under the 
name of 'An Evening at Home,' at the Masonic Hall last evening, which was of a most 
enjoyable nature, over 300 guests being present, who appeared to enter heartily into the 
spirit of the hour, and went in with a keen relish for the good things and various sources 
of amusement provided for them, imder the ardent and courteous direction of the 
honorary secretary, W. D. C. Denovan.* The ' Circle,' which ranks among its members 
many well-known citizens, is a private one, the ' Medium' being a non-professional. There 
is nothing sectarian in its composition, and therefore last night their ' evening at home ' 
was attended by persons professing all shades of religious belief, with whom the circle are 
popular on account of their quiet unobtrusiveness and good fellowship. Those invited by 
the circle pay a small amount for their tickets, which is for the most part devoted to the 
local charities. Their entertainments, therefore, are deservedly in favor, combining, as 
they do, amusement for their friends, and contributing also to works of charity." 

Then follows a list of the visitors present, amongst whom are named 
some of the most influential and even aristocratic citizens of Sandhurst and 
its vicinity, including members of Parliament and their families, and a con- 
siderable number of literary and political Australian celebrities. 

In the conservative and influential city of Adelaide, the late Rev. John 
Tyerman succeeded in waking up a considerable amount of interest by his 
stirring lectures, public debates, and newspaper discussions. 

In Brisbane, a still more pronounced public interest has been manifested, 
resulting in the formation of an excellent and flourishing "Psychological 
Society." From Albury, Newcastle, Beechworth, Ballarat, Geelong, and 
numerous other places, the author has accounts of well established circles 
in several of which good Mediums have been developed, and fine phenomena 
obtained. 

We must conclude however with a brief recurrence to the status of 
Spiritualism in Sydney, of which place, as yet, only incidental mention has 
been made. 

The principal levers for the promotion of SpirituaHsm in this fair and 
beautiful city have been the unselfish and indefatigable labours of a few 
noble propagandists, foremost of whom will ever be gratefully remembered 
the late Hon. John Bowie Wilson, a gentleman whom all classes of the 
community united to praise, and whom Spiritualists in especial, regarded, 
as the father of their cause in New South Wales. 

* Since this section was written, Mr. W. C. D. Denovan has published a most excellent, scholarly, 
and interesting volume, including many of his own remarkable experiences. It is entitled " Evidences 
of Spiritualism," and emphatically redeems the cla,im of its title 



26o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

With open purse, hand, and door, seconded by his charming wife and 
sweet family, this gentleman has supported Spiritualism and all its worthy 
adherents, until his very name became a pillar of strength to "the cause," in 
Sydney. Uncounted numbers owed their first introduction to the hght and 
life of Spiritualism to him. Wayfarers from foreign lands have ever found 
in his home a shelter, and in his association a friend ; whilst the oppo- 
nents of the cause have realized in him, an unassailable garrison against 
whom their batteries have been levelled in vain. In all ways he has been 
the stronghold of the faith, and men and angels " rise up and call him 
blessed." 

During the author's flying visits to Sydney, the Hon. J. Bowie Wilson 
generally officiated as the chairman. The public loved to see him in that 
post, and listen to his plain speech and rugged eloquence ; and the 
speakers felt as if no harm coujd befal them, whilst under his protection. 
Next in fidelity, and the performance of important public service^ has stood 
the good and respected friend of Spiritualism, Mr. Henry Gale. It is not too 
much to say of this excellent gentleman, as of John Bowie Wilson, that all 
his good and unselfish work for an unpopular cause, has been nobly 
seconded by his estimable wife"; and in both famihes, the holy fruits of 
Spiritualism have borne practical as well as theoretical evidences of their 
divine influence. 

Many others, some of whom have been already named, have contributed 
invaluable aid to the cause of Spiritual progress in Sydney, but the named 
and the unnamed, will never murmur because Dr. Wilson, and Mr. Gale, 
have been selected as the representative men of their cause. 

During Dr. Slade's visit to Sydney, a very able and energetic worker 
in Spiritualism became convinced of its truth, in the person of Mr. E. 
Cyril Haviland, the author of two excellent pamphlets and many articles, 
tracts, and good Hterary contributions on this subject. Mr. Haviland, Mr. 
Harold Stephen, and several other gentlemen of literary repute in Sydney, 
combined during the author's last visit, to form a " Psychological Society," 
the members of which, like the parties above named, represented some of 
the most accomplished writers and advanced thinkers of the city. 

Mr. L. E. Harcus, an able and fluent writer, furnished a report of the 
origin and growth of this society for the £an?ier of Light of March, 1880, 
a few extracts from which may not be uninteresting, as bearmg upon the 
present status of the movement in Sydney. 

They read thus : — 

" The annual meeting of the Psychological Society took place a few days ago, when 
the following report was submitted and adopted : — 

'annual report of the psychological society for 1879. 

' When Mrs. Britten was in Sydney the formation of a Psychological Society was 
suggested ; the suggestion meeting a favourable reception, a list of names for a committee 
was proposed and adopted. This committee afterwards met at Mr. Alfred De Lissa's 
rooms, and being materially assisted by Mrs. Britten, they drew up a code of rules and 
did much other work which has been of great value to the society. The committee then 
began to form an association, which now numbers nearly eighty members. I think we 
owe much to that original committee, of which the office-bearers were Mr. Wilson (then 
absent from the colony), as president ; Mr. Greville, M.P., vice-president ; Mr. MacDonnell, 
treasurer ; Mr. Haviland, secretary ; and Mr. Hosier, librarian. 

' Mrs. Britten undertook to give the lecture for the first evening, which she did at the 
New Temperance Hall, which was engaged for the meetings of the society. 

' Of the meetings before April I have no record. On the 21st of that month Mr, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 261 

Haviland, the then secretary, resigned office, and the society was good enough to entrust 
me with that office. 

' With your leave I will now make a few extracts from the minutes, as they will afford 
the best insight into the work done by and the progress of the society during the year. 

'April 21st, 1879 — Mr. Munro read a paper on clairvoyance, and the president, Mr. 
Wils'in, read from the Banner of Light a lecture by Dr. Buchanan, the subject being; the 
discussion, medical and otherwise, on the peculiar and wonderful powers of Miss Molly 
Fancher. 

' May 5th. — Some very interesting incidents were related in connection with clair- 
voyance. At this meeting the first honorary member, Mr. Bright, was elected. As the 
society had then more than £31 in hand, £11 lis. was placed in the hands of a sub- 
committee for the purchase of books. After the meeting a number of tracts and pamphlets, 
which had been presented to the society by Mr. Haviland, were gratuitously distributed. 

' May 19th and June 2nd. — At these meetings Mr. Bright read an extremely interesting 
series of papers on "Magnetic Education," as received by himself at several sittings in 
the presence of Mrs. Jackson, of Melbourne. 

' June 16th.— At this meeting several members recorded interesting instances of spirit 
manifestations. 

'July 7th. — The business assumed a conversational character, and many interesting 
experiences were related. At this meeting Mr. Greville presented the society with the 
complete works of Andrew Jackson Davis. 

'August 18th. — First meeting to which the public were admitted. The hall was 
crowded, and more than sixty people standing. The lecture was " Spiritualism in its 
Eolation to Psychology," and the lecturer Mr. Bright. 

'September 15th. — Again a public meeting, with a thoroughly successful lecture by 
Mr. Harold Stephen, entitled " The Philosophy of Spiritualism.' ' 

' October 20th. — A public meeting, at which the president gave the lecture, " Some 
Proofs of the Reality of Spirit Intercourse." 

' November 3rd. — This evening Mr. Haviland read a paper, "Mesmerism, its Uses, and 
some Hints for its Study," and afterwards showed the way to mesmerize and demesmerize. 

' November 17th. — Public meeting, at which Mr. Cavenagh gave a lecture, '' Spiritualism 
and its Future Possibilities," the attendance being nearly two hundred. 

' December 1st. — This evening Mr. Kice, the " brain reader" (from America), gave the 
society some very interesting tests of his wonderful powers. 

' J. Bowie Wilson, Chairman.' 
" The following officers were elected for the year : President, Hon. J. Bowie Wilson, 
re-elected; vice-presidents, Milner Stephen, F.G.S., &c., &c., Hugh Patersou ; treasurer, 
C Cavenagh ; librarian, F. Hosier, re-elected ; secretary, Hugh Paterson, jun., re-elected; 
and a comnaittee of ten. 

" The retiring officers were given a vote of thanks, and a very successful session 
closed. 

"L, E. Haecus. 
"Sydney, New South Wales, January 19th, 1880." 

Should this volume survive the present generation even such simple 
records as the above may prove milestones on the highway of a great and 
wonderful movement, the full understanding of which, will be aided by the 
mere re-echo of the name of those who were its earliest standard bearers. 
If we now close our notice of Spiritualism on this great Australasian 
continent, it is for lack of space, not of abundant materials foi a far more 
extended report. Perhaps we should add, that no country of the earth 
proves more conclusively than Australia how much is due to the unselfish 
efforts of individuals. To speak of Spiritualism in that country, is to speak 
of the indefatigable labourers who have given it form and direction. 

The all-seeing Spirit alone can determine the future of the movement 
there, as elsewhere, but if ever it fails in Australia, it will be because future 
generations are not worthy of it, and fail to produce new recruits equal in 
courage, devotion, and abiUty, to the now fast-thinning ranks of the " old 
guard," to whose gallant endeavour and noble service, the present status of 
Spiritualism in Australia is due. 



262 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ZEALAND. 

Ere we quit the Southern waters which lave the vast seaboard of Australia, 
we must take a cursory glance at the progress of Spiritualism in the fair 
islands which form the brightest gem of the Pacific Ocean — New Zealand. 
Here, as in Australia, Spiritualism has made a deep mark, and one that 
promises to be very permanent ; but though the plan of this work does not 
admit of oar lingering upon any nation's Spiritual experiences antecedent 
to the present century, we are disposed to impinge upon this set purpose, 
in favour of the fine and singular race whom the white pioneers of the land 
found in its possession, and who are now known as the " Maoris." 
Spiritualism has not only been the religion of this people from time imme- 
morial, but this belief still prevails amongst the broken remnants of the 
tribes which inhabit the land. There are, moreover, so many features of 
resemblance between the Maoris' modes of spirt communion, and those 
with which the Spiritualists of the New Dispensation are familiar, that we 
deem a few items of information on this subject may be acceptable, and in 
harmony with our Nineteenth Century Spiritual revelations. 

In their ideas of Creation, the Maoris are essentially evolutionists, and 
Darwin would have found a mental field amongst them, fully prepared for 
the reception of his plausible philosophy of the ascent of man. 

The following curious examples of Maori poetry, although greatly marred 
by translation, will give an approximate idea of the methods of classifying 
the order of unfoldment as it appeared to the savage mind of uncounted 
ages ago. The words are given by the Tohungas or Priests amongst the 
tribes, and after having been handed down from generation to generation, 
are translated by the various white missionaries who have become familiar 
with their language. We can only give the following brief extracts from a 
vast mass of similar legendary recitations : — 

"of the beginning. 

" From the conception, the increase; 
From the increase, the thought ; 
From the thought, the remembrance ; 
From the remembrance, the consciousness ; 
From the consciousness, the desire." 



OF THE FIRST LONG, LONG, NIGHT. 

' The word became fruitful ; 
It dwelt with the feeble glimmering. 
It brought forth night ; 
The great night, the long night, 
Night, blackness, evermore ; 
The lowest night, the lofty night ; 
The thick night to be felt ; 
The night to be touched ; 
The night not to be seen ; 
The night of death, yet alive ; 
No eyes yet in the world." 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 263 

''when the light comes first, 

" From the nothing, the begetting. 
From the nothing, the increase ; 
From the nothing, the abundance ; 
The power of increasing ; 
The living breath, — the world. 
The living breath ; it dwelt with the empty space, 
And thence came the air : 
The air above, around, the all ; 
The atmosphere, which floats above 
The great firmament ; the early dawn, 
The glimmering growing light ; 
The atmosphere dwelt with the heat, 
And thence proceeded the mighty sun ; 
And the moon sprung forth. 

And the chief eyes of Heaven, the stars came out. 
Then the Heavens became hght ; 
Then the grey earth became light ; 
The early dawn came, the day was born ; 
The mid day, — the blaze of day from the sky." 

" The fourth period," gives the names of islands, and the places which 
were the cradle of the race of men. 

The land being formed, " the fifth period " produces the gods of many 
things, and many creatures. " The sixth period," is assigned to the pro- 
duction of men. Amidst an immense store of legendary description of the 
heavens, seas, gods, and other evoluted forms, there is another " song," 
descriptive of liow the earth changed from its ancient condition of 
barrenness : — 

" The earth's skin was once the tutu. 
Her garment was the weAe weAe. 
Her mantle was the bramble, 
The coarse stinging nettle. 

Don't grieve that the earth is covered with water. 
Don't lament for the length of time. 
The ocean's reign shall be broken. 
The ocean's surface shall be rough 
With the lands springing up in it ; 
With mountains very high, 
Girdling round the sea. 

Yes, round the sea, and rising through the waves. 
The waves shall wash their feet ; 
The high mountains full of fire. 
Broken up shall you be, oh earth ; 
Pierced thro' you white waves ; 
Grieve not earth for your water covered head. 
Lament not seas for your 
Mountains springing up ; — 
Lament not !" 

It would require a volume to describe the intricacies of Maori mythology, 
in which gods, men, demons, monsters, heroes, and spirits of the dead, are 
the actors. The mythology of these islanders is not less diffuse or compli- 
cated than that of the ancient Greeks. But the vivid ideaUty and poetic 
fantasies of the Greek mind, are no marvel, because they e??ianaie from the 
Greeks. 

The endless convolutions of uncurbed fancy by which the Greeks imper- 
sonated the powers of nature, are of course admirable, because they originate 
in Grecian ideality, and are labelled " classical lore." 



2 64 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The Maori sings, believes, and teaches, all that the Greek classics 
enshrine, but alas ! his legends only bear the opprobrious name of "savage 
superstitions." Read however the Rev. Richard Taylor's Te Tka a Maui, 
from which our extracts are taken, and the difference between "classical 
lore" and "savage superstitions" will seem very slight; in fact, the greatest 
marvel of all is, where either Greek or Maori got their idedity from? 
Amidst the mythological personages of New Zealand, " the Spirits of the 
dead " ever play a very prominent part, and our chief interest in noticing 
the Maoris at all, lies in the fact, that belief in, and open communion with 
these Spirits, still exists. The priests or " Tohungas " are unmistakably 
" Mediums," in the modern sense of the term. Sometimes they are born 
with their gift, and sometimes they are devoted to the priestly office by 
their parents, and acquire their powers after the fashion of Eastern ecstatics, 
by prayer, fasting, and contemplation. 

That good prophets exist amongst the Maoris has been abundantly 
proved, even to the cold materialistic government that has absorbed their 
country. During the time when Great Britain busied herself in appro- 
priating New Zealand, on the plea of a " discovery," her officials frequently 
wrote home, that the Maori would never be conquered wholly ; information 
of the parties sent out to attack them ; the very colour of the boats, and the 
hour when they would arrive ; the number of the enemy, and all particulars 
essential to their safety, being invariably commmiicated to the tribes before- 
hand, by their prophets or Tohungas. 

The state of preparation in which the English found " the savages," fully 
verified this claim, and proved the fact of prevision, affirmed to exist 
amongst them. 

The best natural prophets and seers amongst the Maoris are, as amongst 
the Spiritualists, of the female sex ; and although the missionaries try to 
account for the marvellous powers they exhibit, above all, for the sound of 
the Spirit voice, which is a common phase in their communion with the 
dead — on the hypothesis that the women who practise " the arts of 
sorcery," are ventriloquists — this attempted explanation rarely covers the 
ground of the intelligence which is received. 

The author has herself had several proofs of the Mediumistic power 
possessed by these ^^ savages " but as her experiences may be deemed of too 
personal a character, we shall select our examples from other sources. 
One of these is furnished by a Mr. Marsden, a person who was well known 
in the early days of New Zealand's colonial history, as a miner, who grew 
rich "through Spiritual communications." Mr. Marsden was a gentleman 
who had spent much time amongst the Maoris, and who still keeps a 
residence in " the King country," that is — the district of which they hold 
control, 

Mr. Marsden informed the author, that his success as a gold miner, was 
entirely due to a communication he had received through a native woman, 
who claimed to have the power of bringing dowjt Spirits — the Maoris, 
be it remembered, always insisting that the Spirits descend through the air 
to earth, to visit mortals. 

Mr. Marsden had long been prospecting unsuccessfully in the gold 
regions. He had a friend in partnership with him, to whom he was much 
attached, but who had been accidentally killed by a fall from a cliff. 

The Spirit of this man came unsolicited, on an occasion when Mr, 
Marsden was consulting a native seeress, for the purpose of endeavouring 
to trace out what had become of a valuable watch which he had lost. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 265 

The voice of the Spirit was first heard in the air, apparently above the 
roof of the hut in which they sat, calling Mr. Marsden by his familiar 
name of "Mars.'' Greatly startled by these sounds, several times repeated, 
at the Medium's command, he remained perfectly still until the voice of his 
friend speaking m his well-remembered Scotch accent sounded close to his 
ear, whilst a column of grey misty substance reared itself up by his side. 
This apparition was plainly visible in the subdued light of the hut, to which 
there was only one open entrance, but no window. Though he was much 
startled by what he saw and heard, Mr. Marsden had presence of mind 
enough to gently put his hand through the misty column which remained 
intact, as if its substance offered no resistance to the touch. Being 
admonished by an earnest whisper from the Maori woman, who had fallen 
on her knees before the apparition, to keep still, he obeyed, when a voice — 
seemingly from an immense distance off — yet speaking unmistakably in his 
friend's Scotch accents, advised him to let the watch alone — for it was 
irreparably gone — but to go to the stream on the banks of which they had 
last had a meal together ; trace it up for six miles and a half, and then, by 
following its course amidst the forest, he would come to a pile, which would 
make him rich, if he chose to remain so. 

Whilst he was waiting and listening breathlessly to hear more, Mr. 
Marsden was startled by a slight detonation at his side. Turning his head 
he observed that the column of mist was gone, and in its place, a quick 
flash, like the reflection of a candle, was all that he beheld. Here the 
seance ended, and the astonished miner left the hut, convinced that he had 
heard the Spirit of his friend talking with him. He added, that he followed 
the directions given implicitly, and came to a mass of surface gold lying 
on the stones at the bottom of the brook in the depth of the forest. This 
he gathered up, and though he prospected for several days in and about 
that spot, he never found another particle of the precious metal. That 
which he had secured, he added, with a deep sigh, was indeed enough to 
have made him independent for life, had it not soon been squandered in 
fruitless speculations. 

Several accounts are extant of Spiritualism amongst the Maoris, one of 
the most curious and graphic, being a personal narrative, written by General 
Cummings, in a small volume called " Old New Zealand." 

The party who lent this work for perusal to the author, was well acquainted 
with General Cummings, and vouched for his truth and reUability in every 
particular. Although the narrative we are about to quote has often been 
retailed in magazines and other periodicals, it was so thoroughly authenti- 
cated by the author's friend thai we give it place once more in this 
volume, as an example of the kind of SpirituaHsm practised amongst the 
Maoris. 

A popular young chief who had acquired a fair knowledge of the English 
language, and with whom General Cummings was very intimate, had been 
appointed registrar of births and deaths. 

General Cummings occupied a portion of his office, but they were about 
to remove to a more convenient place, when the young Maori encountered 
a violent death. In changing the office, the book of registries was missing, 
and much inconvenience was occasioned by its loss. A short time after 
the decease of his friend. General Cummings was informed that his relatives 
intended to invoke his spirit, and that as the " Pakeha " (white man) had 
been much beloved by him, he might if he chose, be present. 

Notwithstanding his inveterate scepticism, the General accepted this 



2 66 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

invitation, mentally resolving " to keep his ears and eyes wide open." The 
narrator then continues as follows : — 

"The appointed time came. Fires were lit. The Tohunga repaired to the darkest 
corner of the room. All was silence, save the sobbing of the sisters of the deceased 
warrior-chief. There were thirty of us, sitting on the rush-strewn floor, the door shut, 
and the fire now burning down to embers. Suddenly there came a voice out from the 
partial darkness, 'Salutation, salutation to my family, to my tribe, to you, palceha, my 
friend !' Our feelings were taken by storm. The oldest sister screamed, and rushed 
with extended arms in the direction from whence the voice came. Her brother, seizing, 
restrained her by main force. Others exclaimed, ' Is it you ? is it you ? truly it is you ! 
aue ! aue ! ' and fell quite insensible upon the floor. The older women, and some of the 
aged men, were not moved in the slightest degree, though believing it to be the spirit of 
the chief. 

" Whilst reflecting upon the novelty of the scene, the ' darkness visible,' and the deep 
interest manifest, the spirit spoke again, ' Speak to me, my family ; speak to me, my tribe ; 
speak to me, the pakeha ! ' At last the silence gave way, and the brother spoke : ' How is it 
with you ! Is it well with you in that country ? ' The answer came, though not in the 
voice of the Tohunga-medium, but in strange, sepulchral sounds : ' It is well with me : 
my place is a good place. I have seen our friends : they are all with me !' A woman 
from another part of the room now anxiously cried out, ' Have you seen my sister ? ' — 
' Yes, I have seen her : she is happy in our beautiful country.' — ' Tell her my love so 
great for her will never cease.' — 'Yes, I will bear the message.' Here the native woman 
burst into tears, and my own bosom swelled in sympathy. 

" The spirit speaking again, giving directions about property and keepsakes, I thought 
I would more thoroughly test the genuineness of all this ; and I said, ' We cannot find 
your book with the registered names ; where have you concealed it ? ' The answer came 
instantly, ' I concealed it between the tahuhu of my house, and the thatch ; straight over 
you, as you go in at the door.' The brother rushed out to see. All was silence. In five 
minutes he came hurriedly back, with the book in his hand ! It astonished me. 

" It was now late ; and the spirit suddenly said, ' Farewell, my family, farewell, my 
tribe : I go.' Those present breathed an impressive farewell ; when the spirit cried out 
again, from high in the air, ' Farewell ! ' 

" This, though seemingly tragical, is in every respect literally true. But what was it ? 
ventriloquism, the devil, or what ! . . ." 

The Rev. Richard Taylor, a good and learned missionary, one who, after 
many years' residence amongst the natives, wrote a valuable treatise on their 
lives, traditions, and customs, entitled Te Tha a Maui, dilates most 
ingenuously on the striking similarity of the Maoris' spells, enchantments, 
&c., &c., with those practised by the ancient Hebrews. He likens the 
scene of destruction by which a once celebrated Wharekura, or Temple, 
was demolished, and the worshippers scattered, to the destruction of the 
Tower of Babel. His descriptions of the tapu, or curse, which attached to 
certain things and places forbidden to be touched or entered, reads like 
Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and precisely resembles the taboo of the 
Hebrews, by which certain objects, food, and persons, rendered those that 
came in contact with them " unclean." 

Their prophets officiate and speak oracularly, like the prophets of Israel. 
They have multitudes of Karakias, or spells — designed to act as curses or 
blessings, the translations of which read strangely like the dying words of 
Israel to his sons, or the curse and blessing on "Ebal and Gerizim." 
Maoris go up to enquire of the gods, precisely as the Israelites " enquired 
of the Lord," and the Tohungas, or priests, answer them, in the name of 
the gods, by staves, by stones, by lots, by arrows, and a voice, exactly as the 
priests of Israel did, as described in Godwyn's "Antiquities of the Jews." 
This is neither the time nor place to enquire whence this wonderful parity 
of customs, traditions, and modes of religious observance arose, between 
nations as widely separated by oceans and continents, as by epochs of time ; 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 267 

but one of the curious circumstances in this connection which does belong to 
our own time, is the mode in which reverend Christian missionaries com- 
ment on these marvellous resemblances, invariably referring the customs, 
invocations, sacrifices, and other formulse practised by the Hebrews to 
Divine command, whilst the almost identical rites and ceremonies practised 
by a far distant race of Savages, are regarded as evidence of their utter 
degradation and barbaric superstition. 

We regret being unable to pursue the subject of New Zealand Spirituality 
or Superstitio7i — let the reader adopt whichever term his predilections incline 
him to — any farther. Mysterious in their origin, and strongly indicative 
in their present application of a beHef in the potencies of " magnetism " 
and "psychology," this interesting people illustrate fully, to the very few 
who are enabled to gain an inside view of their real lives and customs, 
the astounding fact that the modern SpirituaUsm, which seems to have 
fallen upon this century as a new revelation, not only finds a parallel in 
the Biblical account of the Jewish nation, but in its more subtle phases of 
science through magnetism and psychology, has been, and still is un- 
consciously practised by those children of nature whom we contemptuously 
call "heathens" and "savages." If it be a subject quite worthy of 
philosophic research to endeavour to find a common origin for language, 
how much more so would it be to endeavour to find the true root of all 
religious or Spiritual ideas and customs ! 

If animal magnetism or the transference of invisible force and influence 
from body to body be a proven fact, and psychology, or the impress of 
mind upon mind be a truth, which the poorest experimenter in " electro 
biology " can demonstrate, then would it not be a subject well worthy the 
attention of the scholar, especially the psychologist, to trace out the source 
from whence savage nations have learned the use of these sovereign 
potencies, and that without books, written language, or philosophic under- 
standing of what they do ? 

Whilst every phase of Spiritual power now recognised by Spiritualists 
and attributed to the influence of deceased human beings is known and 
practised more or less inteUigently by the New Zealand Maoris, their 
Spiritual beliefs, although not eradicated, are measurably modified by the 
new doctrines introduced amongst them by Christian missionaries. A 
remarkable example of the grafting process by which new forms are being 
welded into ancient ideas, is found in the person of the celebrated Maori 
Prophet, " Te Whiti." 

This remarkable personage still exercises unbounded influence over the 
tribes amongst whom he resides, in fact he is considered by them very 
much in the same Hght as Christians esteem the Founder of their faith. 
His word is law, his command is regarded as nothing short of divine, and 
his prophecies are to the Maori, as the word of fate. We shall conclude 
this chapter, the only one we can devote to the Spiritualism of a so-called 
" savage people," with a brief account of Te Whiti, published in a San 
Francisco paper, the closing paragraphs of which, in especial, we commend 
to the candid thinker's consideration. The sketch is dated August^ 1879, 
and reads thus : — 

" A MAORI PROPHET LEADER. 

" Erueti, now known as Te Whiti, is the grandson of Paora (Paul) Kukutai, who was 
chief of the Pautukai tribe when this district was first occupied by European settlers. 
The chief of the tribe now is Ruakeri, also a grandson of the old chief, though his influ- 
ence is but nominal, being overshadowed by that of the great prophet leader Te Whiti. 



268 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Erueti was in Ms youth a pupil of the Rev. Mr. Riemensehneider, head of the now defunct 
Wesleyan mission- station at Warea, and ib was here that he obtained his intimate know- 
ledge of the Bible, which it is no exaggeration to say he knows 'oy heart, and his thorough 
acquaintance with which he displays with so much effect in his public manifestos and 
orations. He was looked upon by Mr. Riemensehneider as an earnest Chris ian, and 
when his pupilage ended, the rev. gentleman presented him with a large Bible, which he 
stiU possesses. 

" He first came prominently into notice as a leading man among his people in 1862, on 
the occasion of the wreck of the steamship "Lord Worsley," in Te Namu Bay, Opunake. 
It was chiefly through the exertions of Erueti that the passengers were allowed to pro- 
ceed to New Plymouth, and also 1,500 ounces of gold on board the ship were given up. 
Soon after this Erueti changed his name to Te Whiti ; after an old Pah of the tribe, 
situate in the vicinity of New Plymouth, near the feugarloaf Peak. 

" In 1868, Mr, Parris, then civil commissioner, had an interview with him. Mr. Parris 
stated that the Parihaka natives were, without exception, Kingites, and Te Whiti was 
looked up to by them as being little, if at all, inferior to the king ; that all he uttered was 
spoken in a very calm manner, though the man was evidently deeply convinced that he 
was under supernatural influence, no doubt the result of the secluded life he had then 
been leading for some years. 

" Such is the man who, at the time the Grey Government was trying to purchase the 
adherence of Tawhaio and Rewhi, again lifted his voice and called on all Maoris to rally 
round him, and said that their lands should be returned to tbem, stUl protesting against 
fighting, but announcing that the settlers would be removed by some supernatural means. 
When the survey of the Waimate plains was commenced, it was thought that Te Whiti 
would make some demonstration, but he still confined himself to prophecy ; though, 
when Maclean, the cook to one of the survey parties in the Waitoturu district, was mur- 
dered by Hiroki, and the murderer took refuge at Parihaka, Te Whiti sheltered him and 
refused to allow him to be given up ; and on the chief of the tribe to which Hiroki 
belonged, proceeding with some of his men to Parihaka to demand that he should be 
surrendered to them and given over to take his trial, Te Whiti ordered that all the party, 
with the exception of a European who accompanied them, should be killed if they did not 
at once retire. In March last the Hon. Mr. Sheenan, native minister, went to the Pari- 
haka meeting and demanded the surrender of the murdei'er. Te Whiti's reply was that 
Hiroki was not so guilty as the Government ; he had only killed a man, while they had 
killed the land. He therefore refused to allow Hiroki to be given up, and Mr. Sheenan 
left Parihaka. The very next day Te Whiti issued orders to his natives to remove all the 
surveyors and their gangs from the Waimate Plains, but without any shedding of blood, 
which was accordingly done, men and instruments being carted across the Waingogoro 
river. Parihaka is now in Alsatia, where any murderer or other criminal of the Maori 
race is secure from the arm of the law, Te Whiti having proclaimed it a city of refuge. 
The place is only five miles from the main south road, and barely six miles from the 
European settlers at Okato. In a speech which Te Whiti delivered at Parihaka in June 
last, he said that the Government would send large forces to Parihaka, and take him (Te 
Whiti) and crucify him. He says he will not offer any resistance to the soldiers when 
they come, but that he will gladly be crucified. He also states that the Government are 
determined to put surveyors on the plains ; but he will not fight them. Te Whiti further 
stated that he received a telegram from Sir George Grey on the I7th of June, proposing 
to send a commission to investigate the claims of the natives to the confiscated lands, 
inviting him (Te Whiti) to employ a lawyer to look after his interests, the Government 
paying all the expenses. Te Whiti said his answer was that the matter had been delayed 
too long ; that the end of all things was at hand, courts and commissions included. He 
added : ' When I speak of the land, the survey, the ploughing, and such matters of little 
consequence their (the reporters') pencils fly with the speed of the wind ; but when I 
speak of the words of the Spirit, they say, " This is the dream of a madman." They are 
so intent on accumulating wealth, that nothing appears to interest them except what is in 
some way connected with the acquisition of wealth. The storekeeper who has succeeded 
in acquiring wealth by short weight and inferior articles, and the numerous ways of 
picking and stealing known only to the initiated — the men who steal the land of the 
Maori and acquire flocks of sheep and herds of cattle — the men who would take the bread 
out of the mouths of the widow and fatherless, and acquire great riches by so doing, are 
all looked upon as gentlemen of property, while the humble seeker after truth is passed 
by unknown and unheeded. The time is at hand when their goods will rot in their stores, 
their ships will rot in their harbours for want of sailors to work them, the merchants will 
wring their hands in despair when they see all their accumulation of riches melt away 
like the morning mist before the rising sun.' " 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 269 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ZEALAND (CONCLUDED.) 

We must now call attention to the earliest attempts of a few earnest inves- 
tigators in New Zealand, to promote the knowledge of the modern move- 
ment known as " Spiritualism." 

. The first efforts in this direction were made by those who had brought 
with them from older countries, the tidings of the great Spiritual outpouring. 

By these pioneers, circles were formed in private families with the usual 
results of Mediumistic unfoldment. Amongst the earliest investigators in 
Dunedin, one of the largest and most flourishing cities in the islands — 
was a gentleman who now holds a prominent and influential position in the 
community, Mr. John Logan. Before this esteemed citizen had become 
publicly identified with the cause of Spirituahsm, an association had been 
formed, the members of which steadily pursued their investigations in 
private circles and semi-public gatherings. One of the most marked 
events in connection with the early development of Spiritualism in Dunedin 
however, was the arraignment and church trial of Mr. Logan, the circum- 
stances of which may be briefly summed up as follows. This gentleman, 
although holding a high and dignified position in the first Presbyterian 
church of the city, had not only dared to attend circles and witness 
Spiritualistic phenomena, but it was currently reported that one of his own 
near relatives was a very remarkable Medium. 

Having become interested in the movement through various influences, 
Mr. Logan completed the list of his enormities in the eyes of his Christian 
brethren, by attending the lectures of the Rev. J. M. Peebles, and actually 
appearing with that arch-heretic on the stage of the Princess Theatre, on 
" the Lord's day," as the complaint against him set forth. To make matters 
worse, the offender would neither express penitence nor promise to desist 
from his desperate acts of heresy for the future, to the committee of church 
dignitaries who waited on him, with a view of remonstrating on the atrocity 
of his conduct. On the contrary, the sturdy Scotch gentleman, afi&rmed 
his right to visit Spiritual or any other meetings, when and where he 
pleased, whether on the Lord's Day, or any other day, in public or in 
private. 

What was to be done ? Mr. Logan was rich and powerful. He had 
been a pillar in the church, and his example and influence could not fail 
to lead other sheep astray, besides involving the entire church in the awful 
scandal of his ovvn dereliction ! 

On the 19th of March, 1873, Mr. Logan was summoned to appear before 
a Church Convocation, to be held for the purpose of trying his case, and if 
necessary, dealing with his grave dehnquency. 

Up to this time, the noble wife of the accused gentleman had not followed 
him in his Spiritual researches ; in fact, she had manifested no sympathy in 
the subject to which they related. In the trying hour of her good husband's 
arraignment however, she was by his side, and listened attentively to the 
entire conduct of the high-handed procedure of which he was the victim. 



2 70 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The farce of a modern " star chamber " trial ended, as might have been 
expected, by Mr. Logan's conviction, and excommunication from the heavenly 
benefits and heavenly hopes of which the Presbyterian Synod claimed to 
be the appointed dispensers. Before the final breaking up of this most 
reverend and fraternal assembly of Christians, Mrs. Logan, moved by those 
tender feminine impulses which rendered the severance of once cherished 
ties of friendship and religious communion very painful to her, rose up in 
her place, and with all the dignity and earnestness which mark this estimable 
lady, she asked in thrilling tones, if there was no one there to speak for John 
Logan ? No voice responded. Of all the former friends and associates 
who had been bound to John Logan by ties of gratitude, as well as com- 
panionship in a foreign land, not one held out a hand to sustain him, not 
one breathed a word to mitigate the insensate tyranny of the sentence 
pronounced upon him ! It seemed as if the ice bolts of a hard and savage 
theology had shut humanity out of the hearts of those present, even as 
they would have shut a good man out of heaven, for daring to follow the 
dictates of his conscience. 

Again and yet again the sweet voice of the brave lady rang through the 
stillness of that guilty crowd, in the pathetic question, " Is there no one 
here to speak a word for John Logan?" When it was fully shown that 
not one recreant man present dared to break that solemn silence, the 
devoted wife taking her husband's arm, passed out from amongst them, 
saying as she went, in her own calm and touching tones, "This is no 
place for us ; let us go hence." And thus they went forth, that good John 
Logan and his noble wife ; out from the stifling atmosphere of man-made 
and cruel sectarianism, into the free air of Spiritual life, light, truth, and 
reason ; out from the night of bigotry into the sunlight of God's truth, 
never more to return, but still better, never more to tread separate paths 
in life again. From that hour, Mrs. Logan resolved to enquire into the 
faith that had enabled her husband to withstand the multitude, and prove 
how one man in a good cause, is mightier than a host. Struck with the 
base ingratitude of those who had deserted him, and ashamed of the faith 
which thus disgraced its members in attempting to disgrace their friend, 
Mrs. Logan sought, and found, the source of her brave companion's 
strength, and not only found it to be true and good and rational, but she 
herself came to be a minister of its divine afflatus, and when the author 
visited Dunedin in 1879 she found Mrs. Logan, not only firm in the faith 
of Spiritualism, but one of its most marked evidences in her own beautiful 
and convincing phases of Mediumship. 

With the increase of population and development of civilized life in the 
beautiful islands, even so has Spiritualism grown. It has had its opponents 
from without, who, by slander, ridicule, and open persecution, have 
endeavoured to crush its rising influence. It has also had to contend — as 
usual — with " many foes of its own household." Some of its propagandists, 
stirred with temporary enthusiasm, have acted, like many other injudicious 
new converts, with an amount of fanaticism which has laid them open to the 
charge of folly. Unbalanced minds have ridden it as a hobby to the verge 
of lunacy. The avaricious have sought to make capital out of it, and failing 
to do so, turned to revile it ; and still others have sought to make it the 
stalking horse to shield their vicious proclivities, or furnish excuses for the 
indulgence of their evil propensities ; in a word, human nature has been 
represented amongst New Zealand Spiritualists, as fully as elsewhere. 
Being so remote and self-centered, shut in as it were by its own vast sea- 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 271 

board, New Zealanders are more liable to regard each others failings, than 
a more cosmopolitan population ; hence, whatever shortcomings poor 
human nature has put upon this noble cause in New Zealand, have had 
more than the ordinary share of comment. Still " the cause " has grown 
mightily, and wherever good lecturers have appealed to the candid portion 
of the community, they have succeeded in awaking a deep and permanent 
interest. 

In many of the principal towns besides Dunedin, circles held at first in 
mere idle curiosity, have produced their usual fruit of Medium power, and 
this again has extended into associative action, and organization into local 
societies. 

For over a year, the Spiritualists and Liberalists of Dunedin were 
fortunate enough to secure the services of Mr. Charles Bright as their 
lecturer. 

This gentleman had once been attached to the editorial staff of the 
Melbourne Argus, and had obtained a good reputation as a capable writer, 
and liberal thinker. Mr. Bright's lectures in Dunedin were highly appre- 
ciated, and by their scholarly style, and attractive manner, served to band 
together the Hberal element in the city, stimulate free thought, and do 
good in every direction. 

In Auckland, the principal town of the North Island, the same good 
service was rendered to the cause of the religious thought, by the excellent 
addresses of the Rev. Mr. Edgar, a clergyman whose unconservative and 
Spiritualistic doctrines, had tended to sever him from sectarian organiza- 
tions, and draw around him, the SpirituaUsts and liberal thinkers of the 
town. 

Besides the good work effected by these gentlemen, the occasional visits 
of Messrs. Peebles, Walker, J. Tyerman, and the effect of the many private 
circles held in every portion of the islands, all have tended to promote a 
general, though quiet diffusion of Spiritual thought and doctrine, through- 
out New Zealand. 

During the author's visit to Dunedin, her lectures were given every 
Sunday evening in the Princess Theatre, and on week evenings, in the 
Athenseum, and those were attended for several months, with appreciative 
audiences, filling the buildings to their utmost capacity. Amongst other 
incidents of this visit, was an extended series of newspaper discussions, 
not only with numbers of correspondents whose antagonism to the Spiritual 
doctrines was manifested in the ordinary journalistic fashion, but there 
were many writers, whose fierce diatribes manifested so obviously their 
fidelity to the founders of their faith, John Knox, and John Calvin, that 
the author frequently had cause to felicitate herself upon the fact, that she 
did not live in the days of those respected ecclesiastics, or in the imme- 
diate vicinage of the onz^fmnous Spanish Inquisition. 

Amongst the most keen and persistent of her journalistic denouncers, 
was the irrepressible M. W. Green, "minister of the Church of Christ," 
who had somehow managed to close his career in Melbourne and turn up 
at Dunedin, just in time to hurl his javelins once more at Spiritualism, in 
the height of its success and popularity. 

Mr, Green adopted many modes of attracting to himself the attention of 
a community, which had hitherto been all too unconscious, that they had 
so remarkable a personage in their midst. He persisted in writing to the 
papers, under his full name and style, challenging every statement made 
at the author's lectures, in which he thought he could pick a flaw, and 



2 72 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

when the pubUc began to be tired of him, and the columns of the daily 
journals became " too full," to admit of any more of his prosy anathemas 
against Spiritualism, he hired an immense new hall, and advertised a series 
of lectures to " expose Spiritualism," in which a whole nation of lawyers 
might have found employment in Hbel suits, had not his flaming, advertise- 
ments been too rude and scandalous to render them worthy of honourable 
mention, or notice. Still the " Free-thought committee," under whose 
auspices Mrs. Britten's lectures were given, deemed the gentleman had 
gone far enough, if not a great deal too far, and though his atrocious sensa- 
tional advertisements were obviously put forth to compel notice, the committee 
deemed their honour involved in putting a stop to them. The result was, 
that the same hall was hired in which Mr Green's denunciations had been 
poured out to the listening few. On this occasion, the building was 
crowded to suffocation. The Hon. Robert Stout, Attorney-General and 
M.P. for Dunedin, was Mrs. Britten's chairman, and a large company of 
sympathizers surrounded the minister of the " Church of Christ," a 
company who distinguished themselves by hissing, hooting, and stamping, 
at the close of every sentence, no matter whether their uproar was in or 
out of place. 

Once more we deem it in order to give an extract from the author's 
American correspondence in which this coup d'etat of the "Christian 
minister " is disposed of in all the paragraphs it merits. It reads thus : — 

"Mr. M. W. Green, one of the most persistent and unscrupulous of clerical opponents, 
gave and published, a series of scandalous and disgraceful lectures on the fruits of 
Spiritualism, and in proof of his theory of 'Satanic A.gency,' drew the entire of his 
charges from the lives, writings, opinions and practices of certain so-called Spiritualists 
themselves. His collection of garbage, under the title of ' The DevU's Sword Blunted,' is 
now before the world. The course I finally adopted unde'r the advice and guidance of 
good and wise friends from the shores beyond, I mean to stand by. . . . That course 
was as follows : — We procured the largest and finest hall in Dunedin. The Hon. Eobert 
Stout, our honoured and talented Attorney- General, was my chairman, and to a mob of 
howUng Christian followers of my reverend opponent, in his own white, or rather livid 
face, and surrounded by a jammed and almost frantic crowd of excited multitudes, I gave 
the following definitions of my religion and faith in Spiritualism : — 

" 1st. Spirituahsm proves by a set of obviously supermundane phenomena, that a world 
of invisible intelligence is communicating with us. 

" 2nd. It demonstrates by an immense array of test facts given all over the world, under 
circumstances that forbid the possibility of collusion or human contrivance, that the com- 
municating intelligences are identical with the souls of mortals who once lived on earth. 

" 3rd. It shows by universal coincidence in the communications, that every living soul 
is in judgment for the deeds done in the body, and reaps the fruits of its good or evil 
life on earth, in happiness or suffering hereafter. 

" 4th. All the communicating spirits coincide in declaring that the life succeeding 
mortal dissolution, is not a final state, but one which manifests innumerable conditions of 
progress. . . . and these four propositions I emphatically protest are the all of spiritual 
facts we know, the all that are absolutely proved. ... or upon which, all the immense 
varieties of persons that make up the ranks of Spiritualism, can absolutely agree. 

" The whole of my lecture, printed under the title of ' Spiritualism Vindicated and 
Clerical Slanders Refuted,' is now in the hands of thousands of Colonists, and bitter as 
the occasion was that demanded it, I thank the Great Spirit, whose instrumentality called 
forth so trenchant a plea, for a cause so eminently worthy." 

As it will appear, even from this short extract, that the sole aim of Mr. 
Green now, as in the debate with Mr. Walker, was to shoulder upon 
Spiritualism the shortcomings, follies, and errors of its world-wide 
followers, and the basis of Mrs. Britten's lectures was to present the princi- 
ples of Spirituahsm, and redeem them from the misrepresentation which 
ever obscures any new movement when it is confounded with the irrespon- 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 273 

sible doings of its heterogeneous followers, it will readily be perceived that 
the Christian minister was trumpeting forth to the world the shortcomings 
of Spiritualists ; whilst the author insisted upon recalling him to the only- 
legitimate ground of discussion, namely, the doctrines and principles of 
Spiritualism. No further explanation of these movements and counter 
movements are necessary, and Mr. Green's action was generally recognized 
as the old strategic method of theological warfare, ever employed by 
unscrupulous and desperate attacking parties. 

Now although neither Mr. Green nor his followers could justify an attack 
on a great cause by assailing the characters of those who believe in it, 
especially in a new movement, the wide-spread notoriety of which has 
necessarily attracted to its ranks all the scum of society, Mr. Green having 
been industrious enough to hunt up all the scandals which had been cast 
upon the cause by its camp followers, had of course many facts on his 
side ; facts as cogent to prove the disorder which licentious people can 
attach to any cause that attracts them, as the records of the Inquisition, 
the torture chamber, or the night of St. Bartholomew, could prove 
murder, and barbarity, against Christians. Just in as far as monsters of 
cruelty have disgraced Christianity, so have examples of vulgarity and 
profanity, disgraced SpirituaHsm. When the day comes, in which the 
community recognizes that principles are eternal truths, and personalities, 
the transient representatives of certain states of society, such orators as Mr. 
Green will find their occupation gone, and stick to the endeavour to prove 
their own forms of belief, instead of throwing mud against the beliefs of others. 
During Mrs. Britten's course of Dunedin lectures, the Hon. Robert Stout, 
as Attorney-General of New Zealand, and member for Dunedin, deemed 
himself called upon to oppose with all his wide-spread influence, and 
hberaUty of sentiment, the introduction of the Bible in the public schools 
as a necessary element of education. The partisans of this movement had 
been strenuous in their efforts to effect such an introduction. The oppo- 
nents, headed by their popular leader Mr. Stout, had been equally persis- 
tent in their opposition, and it was in this state of divided opinion, that the 
Committe of the " Free-thought Association " of whom Mr. Stout was the 
president, solicited Mrs. Britten to give a lecture on the subject. The 
attendance on this occasion was overwhelming. The question under 
consideration was, of course, treated from the Liberahsts' standpoint, but 
the main feature of the occasion was the citation of the Bible itself, as its 
own witness. This was done, by the simple presentation of about seventy 
or eighty quotations, in which the character and consistency of the Jewish 
Jehovah, the morality and humanity of the commands issued, and the 
agreement of the passages cited with science and chronology were fully 
displayed, and that on BibHcal testimony alone, without comment or 
criticism. At the close of the lecture it was determined to print and 
circulate gratuitously, ten thousand copies of the Biblical quotations, and 
this was done without any other notice of the texts presented, than the 
simple headings which the extracts illustrated. The sensation produced by 
this procedure, increased the effect of the newspaper and rostrum discus- 
sions, and when the author was finally compelled to quit Dunedin to fill 
other engagements, the ladies who had been her most staunch friends and 
supporters, organized a farewell meeting, at which they presented her with 
a splendid set of ornaments formed from the jade or "green stone" so 
highly prized by the natives, as to be deemed " sacred," set in pure New 
Zealand gold. 



274 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Even now, though time and distance have mellowed the enthusiastic 
influences prevailing on this occasion to regretful and tender memory, the 
heart swells, the eyes fill, and the hand of the writer becomes nerveless 
with emotion, as the astral light in which all things are engraved, reveals 
once more, the images of the beloved faces gazing so earnestly upon the 
one, and recalls the pressure of the kind outstretched hands, so prompt to 
sustain, and so loath to unclasp the farewell pressure ! 

In Wellington, Nelson, and Auckland, important places successively visited 
by the author, warm friends of the cause were found, many private circles 
held, and a vast amount of public interest manifested. Fierce newspaper 
controversies still raged, but these only served to increase the depth of 
public sentiment, and stimulate investigation. 

The great deficiency of railroad accommodation, the remoteness of this 
lovely land, and its isolation in the midst of the lonely Pacific waters — 
floating as it were on the tossing billows which lave its rugged volcanic 
mountain seaboard ; sometimes lashing the rocks with heaving fields of 
white breakers, and sometimes spouting high in air under the influence of 
submarine disturbances ; all these physical features of its environment tend 
to isolate New Zealand from casual intercourse with the outer world, 
limit its population, and render it far less known than the more distant 
continent of Australia, Still its internal growth is marvellous, and when 
the natural charm of its delightful soil, climate, and scenery, shall have 
produced their legitimate effects upon the characteristics of its inhabitants, 
New Zealand ought to be, the Paradise — physically, mentally, and morally, 
of the Southern Seas. Since the author's visit in 1879, two marked events 
have transpired in the history of New Zealand progressive thought. 

One of these, is the publication of a bright -spirited " Free-thought " 
paper, called The Echo, in the columns of which, Mr. Robert Stout's 
incisive logic, forcible argument, and scholarly research, finds frequent 
expression. Besides this. The Echo is graced with numerous scientific and 
able writers on Free-thought and Spiritualism. The second subject for 
gratulation by all liberal minds, is the foundation of a noble hall built by 
free-thinkers, and dedicated to the exposition of scientific and progressive 
subjects. Meetings are now held every Sunday in this hall. 

Its plan and execution are reported to be alike creditable to its founders, 
and the noble purposes to which it is devoted. A progressive Lyceum or 
Sunday school, conducted on the principles taught by Andrew Jackson 
Davis, the " harmonial philosopher " of America, meets in this hall every 
Sunday, when both children and adults participate in the exercises. Fine 
music forms part of the religious worship of these Dunedin Liberalists, and 
already the roof has re-echoed to more sweet strains, elevated thoughts, 
fine literature, and broad progressive teaching, than has ever been heard 
within the walls of New Zealand ecclesiastical edifices. 

With an account of the memorable scene during which the foundation 
stone of this fine edifice was laid, our summary of the New Zealand 
Spiritual movement must terminate. The day has not yet come — and 
heaven grant that it never may 1 — when sharp lines of demarcation will be 
drawn, for the purpose of dividing the ranks of " Free-thinkers " and 
" Spirituahsts." Whatever the former class may profess to accept or reject, 
the latter are Free-thinkers, with religion elevating their free-thought 
to heaven, and carrying their progress on to a life beyond the grave. In all 
else, none can transcend the breadth of their thought, or the freedom of its 
flight. Pending the dark day when this scope of thought shall be deemed 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



275 



too narrow, although the hall of which we have been writing was avowedly 
dedicated to "Free-thought," we dare as Spiritualists to claim the deepest 
possible interest in its erection and the uses to which it is applied, in token 
of which, we gladly record the fact, that the corner-stone was laid by a 
ministering angel on earth, and one who confidently hopes and expects to 
continue that ministry in a higher hfe, the Mrs. John Logan, of whom 
mention has been made in earlier pages of this chapter. 

The following extracts from the report of the ceremony in question are 
taken from the New Zealand Echo of October, 1881 : — 



*' THE LYCEUM HALL. 

"LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE. 

" The fifteenth of October, 1881, will ever be a memorable day in the annals of Free- 
thought in these Southern Colonies. On that day was laid the foundation-stone of the 
first hall in the colonies wholly devoted to Freethought, and it was laid with more eclat 
than any foundation-stone ever laid in Dunedin. The morning was bright, but rain 
seemed threatening, and about eleven o'clock it began to rain. At twelve there was a 
steady downpour, and many of the committee were afraid that the ceremony would have 
to be postponed. Between twelve and one o'clock, however, it cleared up, and after that 
there was no shower till late in the evening. The warm weather and the breeze 
soon dried up the streets, and from 3 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. the weather was all that could 
have been wished. Two platforms were erected on the site — one for the band, and one 
for the children and ladies and the F. T. Choir. Near the north-eastern corner a small 
space was fenced off, carpeted, and a drawing-room suite placed in it. Around the stone 
and the front of the platform there were numerous flowers and trees in pots, and flags 
were hung from poles, and evergreen decorations were around the front of the main plat- 
form. Mr. Thompson had taken great trouble in decorations, and arranging these 
nothing could have been better done. Shortly before three, a large crowd gathered in 
Dowling Street, and the main platform was soon filled with Lyceum children, the choir, 
and ladies and gentlemen About three hundred were on the platform. At three Mrs. 
John Logan arrived, and on her stepping on the platform Mr. Thompson presented htr 
with a splendid white camelia, and she and some other ladies were placed near the stone. 
The band arrived, numbering about forty performers, many musicians having kindly lent 
their assistance to the Freethought band, and then the ceremony began. The crowd at 
this time was not less, we believe, than 3,000 people. The band played the " Star of 
England Polka," with cornet solos, Mr. Chapman leading, and Mr. Parker conducting. 
The music was excellently rendered, Mr. Chapman ably executing the cornet solos. The 
choir and Lyceum children then sang the following version of the " New Zealand National 
Anthem," composed by Mr. Bracken, one of the members of the Association, namely : — 

" God of Nations ! at thy feet, 
In the bonds of love we meet. 
Hear our voices, we entreat, 

God defend our Freeland ! 
Guard Eacific's triple star, 
From the shafts of strife and war, 
Make her praises heard afar, 
God defend New Zealand ! 

" Men of every creed and race. 
Gather here before thy face. 
Asking thee to bless this place, 

God defend our Freeland ! 
From dissension, envy, hate, 
And corruption, guard our State ; 
Make our country good and great, 

God defend New Zealand • 



276 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" Let our Love for thee increase, 
May thy blessings never cease, 
Give us plenty, give us peace, 

God defend our Freeland ! 
From dishonour and from shame, 
Guard our country's spotless name, 
Crown her with immortal fame, 

God defend New Zealand ! 
" May our mountains ever be, 
Freedom's ramparts on the sea. 
Make us faithful unto thee, 

God defend our Freeland ! 
Guide her in the Nations' van, 
Preaching love and truth to man. 
Working out thy glorious plan, 

God defend New Zealand ! 

" Mr. Braithwaite, as Chairman of the Building Committee, then stepped forward, and, 
handing Mrs. Logan a handsome silver trowel, said : I have the honour to ask you to lay 
in the customary fashion the foundation-stone of a building to be called the Lyceum, 
which, when erected, is to welcome within its walls people of all shades of opinion, and to 
be dedicated to freedom of conscience, to intellectual and social hberty, and to that higher 
morality which we believe results from obeying the laws of Nature. As Freethinkers, we 
naturally feel proud of the event that brings us together, which in some respects is an 
auspicious one. To-day we are to lay the foundation-stone of the first Freethought Hall 
in the Australasian colonies. Old and young are here to take part in the ceremony, each 
feeling hopeful of the ultimate results of such an unusual occurrence. We have with us — 
making glad the scene with their clear, ringing, merry voices — the children of the first 
Lyceum started in New Zealand, an institution fraught with the deepest interests to our 
movement. We have also with us most of the members who in years gone by initiated 
and sustained in season and out of season the Dunedin Freethought Association, the first 
of its kind in this colony. Yourself and your worthy husband are two of the number. 
What more fitting, then, than that you should lay the foundation stone of a hall to be 
used for the dissemination of principles for which you have ' ardently laboured ? I take 
great pleasure, then, on behalf of the Freethoiight Association, in presenting you with 
this silver trowel to perform the work for which we have met. It bears the following 
inscription : — ' Presented by the members of the Freethought Association to Mrs. John 
Logan on the occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the Lyceum. October 15, 1881.' ' 

Following upon the ceremonial thus auspiciously commenced, were a 
number of excellent speeches, the most stirring and brilliant of which was 
one from the President of the Free-thought Society, the Hon. Robert Stout. 
In this address Mr. Stout defined the noble and unsectarian purposes to 
which the hall was to be devoted, and in a most eloquent and masterly 
style, drew pictures of the narrow creeds which chain the soul and erect 
cruel lines of demarcation between man and man, and the unbounded 
aspirations for light, love, truth, and kindness, which answer the Free- 
thinkers' demand for a real religion of life, &c., &c. 

Mr. Stout's address deserved to be written in letters of gold. It is 
something however to know that its characters of ink have met thousands 
of eyes, and made a deep and healthful ijnpression upon thousands of 
earnest readers, and now it only remains to add, that the " Free-thought 
Hall," soon developed its handsome proportions above the foundation-stone 
laid by the honoured hands of Mrs. Logan. By this time it has echoed 
and re-echoed to the eloquent strains of many an inspired speaker. It has 
witnessed weekly gatherings of joyous children, gifted teachers, keen 
debaters, and unanswerable logicians. Noble strains of music have 
resounded through its walls, and the place fully realizes the spirit of its 
dedication, and forms one of the grandest mementos of the value of 
practical religion stimulated by the exercise of " Free-thought," at present 
greeted in any part of the world. 



! 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 277 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



SPIRITUALISM IN THE POLYNESIAN AND WEST INDIA ISLANDS. 

Whilst it would be in vain to seek for open evidence of the modern 
Spiritual movement amongst the Polynesian races who inhabit the extensive 
groups of the Pacific Islands, it is equally certain that Spiritualism is known, 
and its phenomenal modes of communion more or less practised by the 
few white settlers who reside there. Doubtless the behef has been imported 
with the tides of immigration, for few voyagers visit these islands without 
reporting that Spiritual circles are commonly known wherever a white 
population is settled. On the other hand, there is a still greater prevalence 
amongst the aborigines, of that kind of Spiritualism of which we gave a 
representative sketch in our last chapter. 

With varieties special to the natives of various islands, the Spiritualism 
of the New Zealand Maoris illustrates that of the Kanakas of the Sand- 
wich Islands ; the Samoans, Fijieans, natives of the Solomon, Navigator, 
and other Pacific groups. Senor Gamboa, a Spanish gentleman, having 
possessions in the Marshall Islands, assured the author that the chief 
feature in the religion of the natives was belief in many gods, and the 
influence of the Spirits of deceased ancestors. When accident or disease 
overtook them, they chanted prayers to some deceased priest who had been 
known as a healer, or some near and well-beloved relative; then hiding 
presents of shells or other ornaments near the sick people, they left them 
for so many hours, in order that the Spirit invoked might come and disclose 
in a dream, or by whispered communications, the best method of cure. 
Senor Gamboa declared, he had witnessed remarkable cures made in this 
way, amongst his own servants. One of these, a cook, had broken his arm 
by a fall; he insisted on being carried to a native settlement near his 
master's residence, and though the fracture was a severe one, he returned 
home in a week, his arm bound up neatly and skilfully with herbs, but so 
far healed that he could use it, and never after suffered inconvenience 
from it. On being questioned as to the mode of cure he said, his friends 
the natives had sung him to sleep, from which he did not wake for three 
days. During the interval he dreamed that his mother, long dead, but one 
who had been a famous " medicine woman " in her life, had come and bound 
up his arm just as he found it on awakening. 

When asked who had done this, his friends said they had found him so, 
and no doubt *' the Spirits had healed him." Spirits in these islands are 
invoked to bless the plantations ; curse enemies, give victory, heal the sick, 
and reveal the future. Mr. James Anson, a good Spiritualist, residing in 
the Fijis, says: — "It is of no use to try and convert the natives to Christianity, 
so long as the missionaries deny them their Spiritualism. They will promise 
for a time to abandon it, but when trouble or danger comes upon them, 
they will invoke the aid of their ancestral Spirits." 

Mr. Taylor, the missionary, says that when he reproached those who 
had " gone back " to their consultation with Spirits, that they were devils, 



2 78 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

and it was forbidden in scripture to have anything to do with them, the 
savage to whom he spoke replied, " They make our hearts light, and tell us 
how to be good ; that scripture is a fool, and do not know how to tell bad 
devil, from good spirit. We know difference ; leave bad devil alone, but 
keep good spirit always." 

In the Fiji and Sandwich Islands are scattered many white residents who 
are good Spiritualists in the modern sense of the term. Some of these 
worthy friends have sent the author accounts of the phenomena which 
occur at their circles, and although it is not sufficiently varied to interest 
the reader, it may be mentioned that several ladies and gentlemen in both 
groups of islands, speak of the remarkable Mediumistic powers of the 
natives, and express hopes that when they become civilized, and can be made 
to act in concert with their white employers, through their finely adapted 
organizations. Spiritual phenomena of a very striking character can be 
unfolded amongst them. 

One gendeman cultivating sugar, and employing a large number of 
Kanakas on his plantation says : — " Our circles — at which six of my 
Kanakas sit regularly — are favoured with manifestations of the most 
stupendous physical force I have ever witnessed. Spirits appear bodily in 
our midst ; lift the children up to the ceiling, tossing them about like 
nurses. They bring in good-sized bushes, uprooted from the garden, and 
dash them down in our midst, but never so as to hurt us." .... He 
adds, " If we could but succeed in uprooting the manifold wild superstitions 
with which these Kanaka heads are crowded ; and substitute the calm 
rational doctrines which our white spirit visitants teach, the magnetic 
organizations of these natives make them such splendid Mediums, that we 
might have amongst them a glorious stronghold of the Spiritual faith. 
Some of my white neighbours" — he adds — "think I practise magic, and 
are ready to denounce me to the authorities, and this reminds me, how 
much we have to do in converting Christians back to the teachings of 
their Master, as well as heathens forward to the same God." 

In the West India Islands, some of which have been visited by the 
author, we find the belief in Spiritual existence prevailing it is true, but it 
takes a far lower and more degraded form amongst the native negro 
population than amongst the high spirited, independent races of the 
Polynesian Isles. The whites are for the most part, too indolent, luxurious, 
and enervated by the influence of their tropical climate, to care for any 
ideas of a Spiritual character, except such as are thought out for them by 
their ministers. 

Here and there a few Spiritualists of the European type may be found, 
but how much they have to contend with, may be noted from the following 
paragraph taken from the American Banner of Light: — 

" Much interest exists in Havana in Spiritualism, but the opposition to the printing and 
publishing of anything in connection with it acts as a hindrance to the extension of 
knowledge respecting it. Lately a box of books sent to M. Joseph Mauri was received by 
him and heavy duties paid on them. They were then submitted to the press censorship, 
and were ordered to be returned whence they came, because they were adverse to the 
reHgion of the State and denied the divinity of Christ. M. Mauri undertook to issue a 
journal, La, Lumitre d' Outretomhe ; but its publicatioQ was interdicted by the authorities. 
Yec these efforts to stay the tide of liberalism, and shut out the light of spiritual truth, 
produce results far different from what were intended, and Spiritualism is progressing 
with marvellous rapidity in Cuba, the number of converts being constantly on the increase. 
Several clairvoyant, trance and writing mediums are on the Island, and their services in 
great demand." 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 279 

Cuba as a favourite resort of valetudinarians from European countries, 
fares better than some of the other West India Islands, where the inveterate 
beUef of the black population in " Duppies " or spirits of deceased persons 
who are supposed to live in the houses they formerly inhabited, and interfere 
in every thing, communicates an ill odour to the idea of things spiritual, 
which repels the proud aristocrats of the islands from " such vulgar 
themes." 

These negroes also practise " Obi," and all manner of Fetish rites, and 
they cannot be persuaded out of them by the commands of their masters, 
or the teachings of the missionaries. A San Domingo priest, a coloured 
man, and a most eloquent preacher, told the author, that from childhood 
he had been subject to trances, dreams, and visions. When he preached, 
he said, he could not even look at his notes, but poured forth the thoughts 
that rushed into his mind unbidden. He invariably saw the church full of 
Spirits, both black and white. White Spirits of most beautiful and exalted 
appearance often brought large bands of dark degraded-looking beings to 
the church, to hear the preaching, and he knew he was inspired by a circle 
of Spirits, whose radiant heads he could see filling the air around him ; 
" in short," he added, " I preach to two congregations, and have known 
from childhood, that the Spirit world was all around us and the veil is 
very thin which separates us. I regard this Spirit world, as the soul world 
of this earth, and deem we could no more subsist without it, than the body 
could exist without soul. When therefore my poor parishioners tell me 
they see the ' Duppy,' and that ' Duppies,' who were their fathers, mothers, 
and children, inhabit their houses, and work with, and talk, and help them, 
my lips are sealed. I believe them, and cannot tell a lie simply because — 
as a Christian minister — I ought not to encourage Spiritualism." 

Such is an inside view of the beliefs which prevail amongst some of the 
most intelligent, and least intelligent, of the West Indian native islanders. 
The superstitions of the lower classes are as gross, wild, and fetish, as those 
of their African progenitors, but Spiritualism is slowly but surely, creating 
a deep impress upon the minds of the higher classes, and converting the 
disgust and contempt they formerly felt towards the superstitious rites of 
the people, into a philosophic realization that Spiritualism is one, and 
Spiritualists many ; the manifestation of the power, taking the form and 
expression of the nation and caste, by whom it is manifested. 

The ancestors of the West Indian negroes, the inhabitants of Central 
Africa, and Guinea, believe in Spirits, but with them, all Spiritual beings, 
even the souls of their fathers and mothers, when disembodied, are " devils," 
and must be propitiated, to prevent their working harm ; hence, burnt 
offerings, sacrifices, and even the immolation of human beings. 

To the Guinea negro then, the Spirits of ancestors are real, but they are 
" devils," only to be feared. To the West Indian negro, they are " duppies," 
household deities, half feared, and half loved, and treated respectfully, in 
view of what they might do. In New Orleans, the negro Vaudoo men and 
women summon "the Spirits," to heal the sick, and giv^e "good luck," as 
well as to work harm to enemies. In Baltimore and Washington, educated 
and intelligent coloured men and women (still negroes) hold circles, invoke 
Spirits as they would call upon beloved friends and relations, and regard 
the Spirit world in exactly the same light as did the coloured preacher of 
San Domingo, whose words were quoted above. 

We must now take a glance at the Spiritualism which prevails in South 
Africa, a section of country which has been bridged over in point of 



28o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

remoteness, by the visits of several good Mediums and Spiritual Propa- 
gandists from Europe and America. 

For some years past, the open communion with Spirits practised in the 
modern circle seems to have been anticipated by reports of " hauntings," 
and supernatural disturbances in various South African districts. Whether 
attention was drawn to this subject by the contagion of Spiritualism in 
the air, or the controlling Spirits of the new movement adopted this 
method of attracting public notice, we need not pause to enquire ; it is 
enough that the rumour of " supernatural disturbances " began to be 
circulated in many of the principal towns and villages as early as 1870. 
The following sketches, detailing the methods of investigation pursued, in 
the early days of South African Spiritualism, may prove of some interest 
to the reader, especially as they are related by Aylward in his popular 
work entitled, " The Transvaal of To-day." This author says there was a 
certain house in Natal, from which several families — who had successively 
tried to inhabit it — had been driven, by the prevalence of unaccountable 
and persistent disturbances. Officials of high position had been called 
upon to assist in unravehing the mystery, but all to no purpose. At length, 
a party of persons, some of whom the author hints were Spiritualists, others 
being experienced " exorcists," and mere lookers on, determined to 
visit the house in set form, and endeavour to " exorcise " the ghostly 
inhabitants. Aylward gives the following account of the proceedings 
that ensued : — 

" On the arrival of the party of investigators and exorcists, an armed watch was placed 
around the house outside. The guard being posted, seven men entered and carefully 
fastened all the doors and windows . The candles were lighted and in deep silence the 
watch was commenced. Ten minutes after the arrival of ^ the guests the se'awce com- 
menced by the fall of half-a-dozen pomegranates on the table. This was succeeded by a 
shower of gravel, the small stones of which I had the curiosity to inspect. No pebbles of 
a similar nature were to be found within ten miles of the place. One of the guards got 
up to examine the pomegranates. He had no sooner left his chair than it was flung with 
great violence after him ; then lumps of ironstone, the smallest of which weighed ten pounds, 
began dropping from unexpected places, and a mass of clay appeared to tumble through 
the roof, breaking and scattering about the floor, as if it had come from a considerable height. 
The remarkable feature about the whole affair was that not one missile struck or injured 
any of the large party now assembled in the small room. Their excitement was increased 
by hearing a violent banging at one of the shuttered openings, but which, as we after- 
wards learned, attracted no attention from the outside guard. McCormyck, who is still a 
living witness of the facts of this entertainment, being, after his own fashion, a pious 
man, determined to show the power of his faith and the strength of the exorcisms at his 
command. He stood up with uncovered head and boldly addressed the ghost in Irish, 
ordering it in the most solemn manner, and by the most sacred influence known to 
Christians, to retire to where the wicked ought to cease from troubling, and the weary 
are presumed — by all but Spiritualists — to take their rest. Whether led on by his 
subject he went too far or not I cannot say ; but he was stopped in the midst of a torrent 
of eloquence by what he afterwards described as a ' kick from a three- year-old ; ' in fact, a 
' young paving stone ' brought him to his senses and his seat at the same time. This 
violent counter-attack was too much for the visitors ; already in a state of high alarm, 
they flung open the doors, and dashed out into the moonlight, followed by showers of 
stones, mealie cobs, potatoes, pomegranates, oranges, and all the handy weapons of South 
African Spiritual warfare that the deceased had accumidated — where ?" 

Mr. Aylward adds another sketch of an adventure occurring in the same 
weird neighbourhood to one of his most intimate friends, from whom he 
received an account of the occurrence, and for whose veracity and the 
unquestionable reliance that might be placed upon his statement, Mr. " 
Aylward strongly vouches. He says : — 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 281 

" My friend was riding one day on a road skirted on the left by high embankments, 
while the right sloped away into grassy meadows, when a thunderstorm coming up from 
behind, caused him to look back, that he might calculate whether he could reach the 
town, two miles in front of him, without being caught in the rain. The horse, as horses 
will, looked around and backward at the same time. In a moment the brute was madly 
plunging, striving to bolt up the high bank, and endeavouring with evident terror, to get 
away from some fearful thing. ... It was 4 p.m. on an ordinary summer after- 
noon .... Strongly interested by the fear so palpably exhibited by his horse, . . . 
the rider again turned has eyes towards the rapidly approaching storm. ... He was 
not a superstitious man, he was not drunk, or suffering from low spirits, or ' want of 
spirits,' and yet he saw in the broad daylight, coming floating towards him, with out- 
stretched arms in front of the moving mass of rain, but several feet raised from the earth, 
a young, fair, ethereal, golden-haired female, whose robes of glittering white trailed just 
over the highest points of the grass. She spoke not, but came steadily down upon him in 
advance of the storm. His horse now kicked and plunged more madly than ever, and at 
length, wild with terror, snapped the strong bridle reins into pieces, and tore away in 
headlong flight straight down the roadway to the distant village. . . . Twice during 
the headlong gallop, the rider turned his head to watch the swiftly following rain, which 
was still preceded by the fair girl and her outstretched arms.' ' 

CAPE TOWN. 

The progress of Spiritualism in this remote quarter of the globe, strikingly 
illustrates the possibilities which grow out of the efforts of one determined 
and earnest mind when bent upon carrying its purpose into practical 
effect. Spiritualism in Cape Town owes its first unfoldment entirely to the 
energetic leadership of Mr. Berks T. Hutchinson, a name equally well 
known and esteemed now, in the annals of the cause, whilst this gentleman's 
conversion to the belief is due, according to his own statement, to what the 
world would call a mere passing incident, but one which the Spiritualist 
recognises as a link in the chain of concerted action forged by the guardian 
spirits of this mundane sphere. 

Mr. Hutchinson informed the author, that the subject of Spiritualism was 
first brought to his notice by an American gentleman, a Dr. Wilson, who, 
on his way to the diamond fields in the year 1872, chanced to make Mr. 
Hutchinson's acquaintance. Being an enthusiastic beUever in Spiritualism, 
Dr. Wilson had much to say on the subject to Mr. Hutchinson, and at 
parting with him, strongly urged him to subscribe to the Banner of Lights 
one of the chief organs of the cause in America. Before Mr. Hutchinson's 
interest in Dr. Wilson's tidings had time to cool, another earnest propa- 
gandist called at Table Bay, in the person of Mr. Holmes, photographer of 
the United States gunboat Swatara. By this new ally Mr. Hutchinson was 
induced to experiment in the formation of circles, at one of which Mr. H.'s 
sister became developed as a fine rapping test Medium. Hence arose the 
means of furnishing evidence which not only convinced the members of the 
experimental circles, but many others outside their ranks, of the truth of 
Spirit communion. 

Mr. Hutchinson says of his own sentiments at this time : — 

" Being naturally of an enthusiastic turn of mind, I believed that every one would leap 
for joy at the glad tidings I had to communicate, but to my great sorrow and surprise 
I found myself shunned and avoided by my nearest and dearest friends, and none but 
those who have experienced a similar fate can imagine the pain I experienced at being 
tabooed and reviled for proclaiming my honest convictions, and that on so noble and 
glorious a revelation as immortality demonstrated." 

Mr. Hutchinson's gallant defence of his newly found religion, and the 
devotion with which he promulgated it, may be judged of by the fact, that 



282 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

he built a fine hall capable of accommodating some 500 persons, solely 
for the purpose of holding Spiritual meetings ; that he organised a psycho- 
logical society, and indefatigably promoted the formation of circles, at 
which several good physical Mediums were developed. In addition to 
these untiring and costly efforts to promote the advancement of the great 
truth he realised, Mr. Hutchinson started a paper devoted to the interests 
of Spiritualism, and although its career was short lived for lack of adequate 
support, it was a well written and interesting publication, and at a later 
period in the history of Colonial SpirituaUsm would have doubtless proved 
a genuine success. 

Undaunted by the vast financial outlay which his efforts entailed upon 
him, Mr. Hutchinson succeeded in procuring the services of the Rev. J. 
M. Peebles, who in a fine series of lectures on the Spiritual philosophy, 
did much to enlighten his audiences on the sublimity and high import 
of SpirituaUsm. Mr. Hutchinson made a trip to England in 1877, 
and being greatly struck with the manifestations of physical power exhibited 
through the Mediumship of Mr. Eglinton, a young gentleman much 
esteemed and admired by the Spiritualists of London, he induced him 
to come to Cape Town, for the dual purpose of benefiting a fragile 
constitution and affording the inhabitants of The Cape opportunities of 
witnessing his (Mr. EgUnton's) unrivalled mediumistic endowments. 

Before concluding our brief notice of Cape Town Spiritualism, it may 
interest the reader to peruse at least one thoroughly well-attested account 
of Mr. EgUnton's seances. It must be added that although the manifesta- 
tions of Spirit power through that excellent instrument were very varied, 
and included nearly every form of intelligence as well as physical power 
known in the modern dispensation, our space only admits of one narrative, 
and this must be taken as representative, not only of Mr. EgUnton's 
Mediumship generally, but also of the crucial modes in which his powers 
were tested. The Spiritualists of Cape Town published amongst many 
other accounts of Mr. EgUnton's seances the following report in the London 
Spiritualist of January, 1879 : — 

" When tlie reports from Amsterdam reached this town, the local papers of course, 
made the most of them, and were not choice in their expressions about the deceivers and 
the deceived. Some Spiritualists even wavered in their belief ; but the seance now 
described has served to bind them together more firmly than before. Mr. Eglinton had 
ceased to be a professional medium, and was not in any way identified with our society. 
It was proposed to ask him to give a seance on purpose to make known if he produced 
his materialisations as these exposers would have us believe. Not that we doubted him, 
for he had been giving stances with unvarying success ever since he landed here, and his 
demeanour, candour, and honesty had much endeared him to us. We kept our purpose 
entirely quiet, and not until the circle (a select party of Spiritualists) had met, and the 
medium arrived, did we place our object before him. 

" We desired that a committee of three should search him, to which he at first 
demurred, but when we explained that it was the wish of his guides that we should do 
so, he immediately consented. The room was thoroughly scrutinised, and we aver that 
there were no cupboards or carpets to conceal any articles, and the most rigid search 
failed to reveal anything concealed on his person. The cabinet was simply formed, by 
suspending two curtains made of black silesia across a corner of the room, the walls of 
which are very solid, the floor uncarpeted, and without trap doors. The medium, never 
leaving our sight, retited into the cabinet, seating himself on a chair provided for the 
purpose. The sitters, sixteen in number, were arranged in the form of a double horse« 
shoe around the cabinet. Shortly after prayer had been offered and a voluntary played 
on the harmonium by our organist, the tall and graceful form of Abdullah was seen in 
strong gaslight, clothed in a profusion of snowy drapery, his sparkling jewels flashing 
out to us the scintillating rays of light. He bowed gracefully to the sitters, came out 
from the cabinet, and walked close up to us. He is apparently five or six inches taller 



^NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 283 

than Mr. Eglinton, slight in figure, with only one arm, and of wholly different physique 
to the mediam. 

" Next there appeared in front of the cabinet a small portion of white drapery, and 
above it a head. It was most strange and weird- like to see nothing but an apparently 
human head moving about. Very soon two Hands materialised, and, taking hold of the 
white drapery, commenced shaking it out, a voice keeping up an animated conversation 
all the time. Gradually the mass of drapery grew more profuse, and we noticed that the 
head then placed itself upon a neck, which soon connected itself with a body, rising, as it 
were, out of the drapery. It was the form of our dear friend and worker ' Joey,' who 
remarked, ' There, that's the way I build myself up.' Thus he appeared, formed 
seemingly out of nothing, in the light, and without the slightest attempt at concealment 
or mystification, thus solving, to our unbounded satisfaction, one of the most momentous 
problems of the nineteenth century. Joey's form is wholly unlike that of the sensitive, 
being smaller, slighter, and of weaker physique altogether. The next form was that of 
a tall, graceful, good-looking lady, clothed from head to foot in a flowing garment, not 
unlike a fine Indian mull muslin, and very different in texture to that of the preceding 
figures. She moved out of the cabinet, and was plainly seen by all, and clearly recognised 
by several as a Miss Georgina Handley, formerly a sister of mercy in this town. The 
fourth figure proved to be that of a male, stepping out immediately after the last figure. 
He was recognised as the father of one of the sitters, and the loved husband of another. A 
marvellous manifestation now took place, for, after bowing to the sitters, he retired to the 
cabinet, and with the aid of another male spirit, brought the medium right out of the 
cabinet into full view of the sitters, so that the medium and two male spirits were distinctly 
seen at the same time. They then took Mr. Eglinton back again to the cabinet, and throw- 
ing back the curtains showed him reclining in his chair, deeply entranced. The curtains 
closed on these marvels, and almost instantly the petite form of ' Lily,' the much-loved 
and last plucked flower of our friend, Mr. Hutchinson, came into the circle, and, in child- 
like confidence, placed her tiny hand on the knee of one of the sitters, and looked up into 
his face with the touching appeal of " Do you know me?" On her retiring, another 
female figure appeared of medium height, with flowing garments and light hair, but only 
for a moment, and was instantly recognised as the sister of a sitter. The difference 
between this figure and that of Miss Handley was striking, one being tall with somewhat 
dark hair ; the other considerably shorter and fairer. Six forms had already appeared, 
yet our friends had not quite done, for suddenly Abdullah drew aside the curtain, and 
we witnessed the wondrous phenomenon of 'Lily' retiring apparently into the form of 
Miss Handley, who in turn retired into the body of our faithful medium, followed 
instantly by the disappearance of Abdullah ; and thus ended the most marvellous 
manifestation of power and conclusive evidence of Spirit presence and identity yet seen 
in Southern Africa. Let who will deny these facts, there they remain, and if the 
evidence of sixteen respectable, intelligent, and sane persons, who would unhesitatingly 
expose trickery (were it possible), is of any value, then we say we have scored a triumph 
which no amount of deceit or fraud can ever undo. 

" That this report is correct we aflirm and declare, as witness our signatures : — 

"Berks T. Hutchinson, E. Hammick, 

Carrie J, Hutchinson, F. Williams, 

Helenk Otto, J. F Marshall, 

M. F. KoHLER, E. Kingsch, 

George Silver, S. T. Marchant." 
"Cape Town, South Africa, Dec. 3rd, 1878." 

We present this statement without comment, except a strong asseveration 
of the entire honesty, good faith, and rehability of the esteemed narrator, 
Mr. Hutchinson, and the well-known respectability of his fellow witnesses. 

Of course it will be understood that Mr. Hutchinson has secured many 
noble and effective allies in his arduous undertakings. Mr. Alfred Teague, 
Mr. Marchant, Mr. C. M. Cogm, and Mr. Simkiss, the latter once known as a 
devoted advocate of Spiritualism in Wolverhampton, England ; these gentle- 
men and many others of good repute and standing bravely uphold the flag 
of the cause in Cape Town, and amidst disadvantages which the cosmo- 
politan of other countries can nei^er even dream of, maintain its advocacy 
after the fashion of a single warrior against a host. Mr. Berks T. Hutchin- 
son concludes a brief and modest sketch of his own share in the work of 



284 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

propagandism as follows : — " For the last few years, for various reasons I 
have taken no active part in spreading the truth, but I never let an oppor- 
tunity pass of ventilating the subject or lending works out of my library. . 
. . . We have a new Mesmeric and Psychological Society of which I 
am a member. . . . The light of Spirit communion," he adds, " will 
never go out in this sunny land " — a conclusion in which he is confirmed by 
many of the faithful and self-sacrificing men and women whose good names 
and good services for Cape Town Spiritualism we have been unable to 
report, but whose efficient labours we feel entire confidence will be found 
inscribed in the archives of the still brighter land whose sun will know no 
setting. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN SOUTH AMERICA, MEXICO, &C. 

To the author's work on " Modern American Spiritualism," about the 470th 
page, will be found a series of communications by Mr. Seth Driggs giving 
accounts of circles held at Caracas, Venezuela, together with numerous details 
concerning the status of Spiritualism in the South American Republic. 
These communications are dated 1865-6, and refer to scenes enacted at a 
still earlier period. Great changes have been wrought during the succeed- 
ing eighteen years, in the Spiritual progress of South America, as the 
following pages of this chapter will show. 

SPIRITUALISM IN MEXICO. 

For many graphic accounts of Spiritual progress in Mexico, the author 
is indebted to the report of Don A. Gamboa, a gentleman residing near the 
town of Acapulco, and one who although generally too reserved to make 
his opinions known, has quietly, and generously devoted many years of his 
life and much of his means, to the advancement of the cause of SpirituaUsm. 
Don Gamboa affirms, that there are many earnest and aristocratic supporters 
of Spirituahsm in Mexico, amongst whom he names, General Gonzales, 
Don Antonio Santago, the president of the Spiritual Society, numbering 
over one hundred and twenty-five members ; Don E. Alvarez, Don S. Sierra, 
and Don J. Cordero, an eminent advocate, and the esteemed editor of an 
excellent paper published in the Spanish language, entitled La Illustradon 
Espirita. 

Amongst the contributors to this journal are several ladies and gentlemen 
of rank and literary ability^ whilst the circles held in different parts of the 
country, although strictly private, are very numerous, and display Medium- 
ship of a high order, especially when the Media are ladies— or as it often 
happens — very young persons. 

Don Gamboa is himself fortunate in possessing a Medium in his own 
family, in the person of his Httle daughter, a young girl of fifteen, who, 
though unfortunately a cripple, and confined to her lonely plantation home 
by a severe affection of the spine, is still a remarkable clairvoyant, seeress, 
and Spirit Medium. Under influence, this young lady can read through 




M.^? Ada Foye 



ill 



Jl 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 285 

closed books, tell the nature and colour of any object presented to her 
blindfolded, has described distant scenes and places, though she has never 
quitted Mexico, and always predicts correctly what visitors are coming, or 
any event of importance about to occur in the family. 

On account of her invalid condition, the parents refuse to allow their 
daughter to be visited, or to exhibit her wonderful powers to any but 
intimate friends, but as her governess is an excellent planchette writer and 
rapping Medium, Don Gamboa says — to use his own words — " We have 
for years been living more in heaven than on earth, surrounded and 
ministered unto by angels, and so radiantly happy, that we shrink from 
contact with the hard cold world, just as our Amalia mourns and shivers 
when her Spirit friends return her from flights in the sunny skies, and 
fragrant airs of the glorious summer land, to the dull grey mists of this 
weary earth," 

Don Gamboa permits the author to mention the fact of the supernal 
revelations given to his highly -favoured family, but desires it to be added, 
that no correspondence is answered, nor are visits received from curious 
enquirers outside his own immediate circle. He mentions Mr. Simonson 
as a good writing and impressional Medium of Panama ; Senora Dolores 
Portugal, as a fine trance and magnetic Medium ; Signor Silvio Pellico, 
and several other good writing Mediums, and quite a number of others 
distinguished for their various gifts as trance speakers, pantomimic, 
tipping, and seeing Media. 

Don Gamboa's commercial pursuits have frequently called him to the 
United States, where he has seen much of American Spiritualism. 

He complains of the cold materialistic way in which circles are conducted 
there, and contrasts them with the solemnity and respect with which 
Mexican Spiritualists invoke the presence of their "honoured dead." He 
says : " Our circles never begin without heartfelt prayers, then invocations 
to Spirits, spoken or sung, with skill and artistic taste. Sometimes 
voluntaries are played on the harmonium, harp, or other instruments, 
manipulated with sufficient good taste to satisfy the elevated inhabitants of 
a higher region; after which, to the ringing of a sweet-toned bell, the 
members of the circles compose themselves to receive messages from 
Spirits, in the accustomed way." 

From a number of communications on "The divine harmony of the 
superior regions," given in the Mexican circles, we select one which is a 
striking confession of a Spirit, who says in reference to the immoral life he 
had lived on earth : — 

" On entering the spirit world the first remembrance that assailed me was of the 
■woman whom I had injured. I returned to the abode of my unhappy victim, and saw 
her, pale and sad, bending over the cradle of our child. Deeply penitent, I asked 
forgiveness and sought with tenderness to assuage her tears. I madly fondled the little 
one I had left upon the earth without a name. But all was silence. No one heard or 
heeded me. Always at her side and hearing her murmur my name between her sobs 
and tears, but my penitence and grief reaches her not, and I must seek the aid of the 
good who practise their virtues in silence and know something of the life beyond the 
tomb. Could Spiritualists realize that in our selfishness we are making for ourselves a 
bed that our morally mutilated forms must fit, perhaps the gauge of virtue would be 
more closely watched." 



We now avail ourselves of Dr. G. L. Ditson's scholarly articles prepared 
each week for the Banner of Light to give a farther account of the literature 
as well as the Spiritual status of the cause in Mexico, and other strongholds 
of " the faith " in South America. 



2 86 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Writing in 1880 of Don Gonzales' excellent paper, published in Mexico 
City, Dr. Ditson says : — 

"Notwithstanding the troubled waters of the ever unfortunate Mexico, her able 
exponent of Spiritualism, La lUustracion Espirita (August number), has reached me in 
due time. Don Gonzales's rich, attractive magazine gives no evidence that the political 
turmoil surrounding him has reached his sanctum, for his pages are, as usual, aglow with 
all that is valuable to investigators in the realm of our faith and inviting to the scholar 
who would penetrate the deeper mysteries that underlie the mind's progress. 

" The lUustracion before me opens with a learned consideration of the ' Doctrine of 
the Trinity,' by Don Juan Cordero — its literary, historical, and religious aspect. In the 
course of his remarks Don Cordero says : ' From a historical point of view the dogma in 
question is a step backward in the career of progress. . . . Why reject the Olympus 
of the Greeks if you are to substitute for it the Olympus of the Romans ? . . . Why 
condemn as absurd the avatars of Vishnu, yet proclaim the incarnation of the Divine 
Word ? For what and why laugh at a God with three faces (although monstrous), to 
substitute one God composed of three Gods, an individual composed of three individuals 
distinct in themselves ? Why condemn the adoration of the stars and substitute for them 
a piece of wood ? ' After referring to what has been established by religious councils 
the writer says : ' Without doing injustice to the true value of those venerable " ConcUios," 
we vdll cite as a simple contemporaneous appreciation of them a passage from a letter 
directed to Procopius by San Gregorio Nazianceno, who presided at the Grand Council 
of Constantinople (A. D. 851) : "I have fear of these Councils. I have not seen one 
that has not done more evil than good, or had a good end ; the spirit of disputation, 
vanity, and ambition dominates them, and he who among them proposes a reformation 
of abuses runs the risk of being accused without correcting them." ' " 

We conclude this brief notice of Spiritualism in Mexico with an 
extract from a late number of the American Boston Herald^ in which 
we find the following account of a tribe of Indians located at New Mexico, 
and claiming to be the direct descendants of the most ancient Aztecs, 
whose customs, traditions, and ceremonials, they affirm they religiously 
cherish. The accounts of these people, called the "Zuni Indians," are 
furnished by a Mr. Gushing, a gentleman who was sent out by the Smith- 
sonian Institution of Washington, America, to report upon the condition of 
the Indian tribes of New Mexico, and who is now adopted among the 
Zuiiis. 

The Editor of the Boston Herald, commenting on Mr. Gushing's corres- 
pondence, says : — 

" Having made the religion of the Zunis a subject of close study he has learned that 
the worship and traditions of Montezuma — so long accepted in all accounts of the Aztecs — 
have no foundation in fact. He has found the existence of twelve sacred orders, with 
their priests, and their secret rites as carefully guarded as the secrets of Freemasonry, an 
institution to which these orders have a strange resemblance. Into several of these orders 
he has been initiated, and has penetrated to their inmost secrets, obtaining a knowledge 
of ceremonials both beautiful, pi ofound and grotesque in character. ' But,' adds this 
correspondent, ' the most marvellous discovery he has made in connection with their 
religion is the grand fact that their faith is the same thing as Modern Spiritualism. The 
Zunis have their circles, their mediums, their communications from the spirit-world, 
their materializations — precisely like those of the Spiritists of civilised life. Their stances 
are often so absorbing that they are kept up all night. Their belief in the phenomena 
explains many strange things about their religion which Mr. Gushing was unable to 
account for until he hit upon it — they had kept it carefully guarded months after he was 
on most intimate terms with them — by telling them about certain spiritistic phenomena 
he had himself witnessed, thus gaining their sympathy as apparently a fellow believer.' 

" The Zunis have religious ceremonials, sacred orders and public festivals, in which songs 
and prayers are employed that have been handed down for very many generations with- 
out the changing of a single word. Mr. Cushing's adopted father is the second priest of 
the tribe, a man of a beautifully loving and gentle nature. Upon the return of one of 
their number from a dangerous expedition, the following prayer was offered by him : 



NIjyETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 287 

" ' All spirits ! we ask for your light. Far and in parts unknown, where the world is 
filled with danger, where things forbidden and the unknown are, thence ye have brought 
back our child. We thank ye ! In spite of all danger, we now speak to each other again. 
We now see one another again. Thanks. Therefore your light we ask, and we will 
meet ye with your own blessing.' " 

Dr. Ditson says in connexion with the Revista Espiritista of 1877 : — 

" Revista Espiritista, of Monte Video. This is the oldest, I think, of South American 
periodicals, and, though containing but eight pages, overflows with fraternal good will, 
plain truths, such as we need and love, and such as its editor, Don Justo de Espada, 
invites us to as to a grateful feast." .... 

"The Revista Espiritista, of Monte Video, has always some valuable sentiments from 
its editor, Don Espada, and the Angel Guardian; it also in the present issue quotes 
from the ' Lerida (suppressed) Sentido " what the Bishop of that district has been doing ; 
but says that after his severe anathemas against this publication and all Liberals, the 
subscriptions to the Sentido had increased, and even a serenade had been given to the 
Liberals of Bilboa." .... 

In 1878 Dr. Ditson says of this same paper : — 

" The editor of this pioneer in our cause, in a land where Catholicism has held undis- 
puted sway for centuries, has doubtless up-hill work, with not many assistants ; yet he 
seems to be a host in himself, and brings out regularly his heraldic Revista, a kind of red 
flag, such as is used in the arena in the favourite Spanish amusement of bull-baiting. 
He relies principally upon his own pen, though he has other able contributors, such as 
Dona Amalie Soler, who in the present number writes of ' What am I ? ' There is also an 
article from a Belgian paper, which, with the Revista, still dwells much upon ' objections 
to paid mediumship.' " . . . . 

Of the leading Spiritual paper of Buenos Ayres, Dr. Ditson gives a 
number of laudatory notices, and as they contain some interesting 
mementos concerning the Spiritualistic doings of that important town, we 
shall give some extended excerpts from the collection in our possession. 

The first of 1880 reads thus : — 

" Though Mexico formerly furnished us with the finest magazines and spiritualistic 
literature anywhere to be found, she seems to have abandoned the field to the Spanish- 
speaking people of the South. Buenos Ayres, which now produces the Consiancia, has not 
neglected her opportunity, and the periodical in hand from that fair city vies with our very 
best. Some remarks on Allan Kardec ; a short discourse delivered by Don H. Mayor before 
the ' Constancia Society,' ' Observations on Magnetism,' or odic force, in which Baron 
Reichenbach is frequently referred to, and ' Materialization/ are the first articles that claim 
attention in the present issue. . . . 

" Following an article on ' What there is Positive Respecting Astrology,' and in which 
the most gloomy forebodings are entertained respecting our immediate future, M. Clavairoz, 
formerly a French Consul-Qeneral, says : ' The Mother Shipton evoked by the London 
Spiritualist declares that at this moment there is not a single true astrologer upon the face 
of the earth. Now this name of Mother Shipton was the pseudonym under which the 
celebrated Roger Bacon concealed himself ; this encyclopedic genius, whose investigations 
in the thirteenth century elicited the admiration of his contemporaries who were occupied 
with astrology, . . . was in accord with Nostradamus when he said that the world 
would come to an end in 1881. But it is understood that the end of the world refers 
wholly to a moral state ; that it signifies the advent of a new reign ; but it is curious to 
observe at least the coincidence of all these prophecies ; and the conjunction of the four 
planets. . . . 

" Quoting from the Gaulois of May 16th, 1869, the Constancia has the following : A 
young lawyer going from Paris to Piedmont was assassinated ; but of this terrible afiair, 
or the whereabouts of the body, nothing was known till a clairvoyant was consulted. This 
psychic gave a description of the place where the deed was committed, and described the 
assassin, a well-dressed man who travelled with his victim. The murderer and the 
murdered youth were thus discovered, and aU the minute particulars were verified." 



288 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Another journalistic notice of La Constancia is given in a recent number 
of the Religio Philosophical Journal of Chicago, and reads as follows : — 

" The Constancia is a monthly Spiritual review, published in Buenos Ayres, and is now in 
its fourth year. The September number has reached us, and we find it to be the most satis- 
factory publication of the kind that we have ever seen from our sister continent. Twenty- 
four pages of the thirty-two which it comprises, are devoted to a discourse pronounced 
against Spiritualism by Prof, D. Miguel Puiggari, and its refutation by Senor Hernandez, 
which latter is the most searching and powerful document that we have ever seen from 
any source, and we only wish that we had time and space to reproduce it." 

" The Constancia is not the only Spiritual journal published in Buenos Ayres, for it 
returns the salutation of a new contemporary called La Fraternidad in the following 
graceful terms : — 

" ' We accept the salutation with a joyful heart, for we feel the necessity of publications 
of this sort in a centre so vast as this in order that it may not be supposed that the 
number of believers is small, but that there are readers for the grand philosophy which 
we have embraced and that the number of followers is already legion.' " 

Writing of Spiritualism in South America in October, 1881, the editor of 
Light (London), says : — 

" The Constancia, a monthly Spiritualist review of Buenos Ayres, dated 30th of July 
last, contains the report of the General Assembly of the Buenos Ayres Spiritualist Society, 
including the President's address in which he urges the members of the society not to 
neglect their attendance at the different meetings, but each to do his share in adding to 
the brilliancy of Spiritual light. ' The Spirits,' he says, ' understand us thoroughly, and 
ask our continual assiduous assistance. We, on the other hand, do not comprehend our 
own selves, while imprisoned in this obscure corporeal dungeon. Let us then accede to 
the request of those invisible brothers who, with so much interest, invite us to attend 
these reunions.' 

" Then follows the account of the work done by the various sections of the society, and 
short reports of trance speeches, magnetic sessions, &c. A number of healing prescrip- 
tions are mentioned as having been given through the mediumship of Donna Juana de 
Navajas, a well-known local medium. A series of monthly conferences are held under the 
auspices of the society, the subject in July being the Theory of Spontaneous Physical 
Manifestations. The subjects down for discussion in August were : ' Bi-corporeity and 
Transfiguration,' ' Laboratory of the Invisible World,' ' Places visited by Spirits,' ' Nature 
of the Communications, &c., &c. A paragraph follows copied from the Heraldo de San 
Nicolas, of the 28th June, 1881, reporting the speech of Don Rafael Hernandez, a leading 
Spiritualist, at the anniversary banquet of the ' Union' Masonic Lodge. The oration was 
equally Spiritualistic and Masonic, and was full of sublime sentiments. 

" The number before us also contains a communication from the eloquent pen of Amalia 
Domingo y Soler, a writer and authoress well known to all SpirituaHsts who are acquainted 
with the work in Spain. The article was originally written in the Luz del Porvenir (Light 
of the Future), edited by Madame Domingo y Soler, and claims for woman her proper 
position in society ; to attain which her Spiritual education should be taken in hand, and 
the blossom of truth gradually unfolded before her eyes." 

" THE BRAZILIAN SPIRITUAL PRESS. 

" The foUovnng Spiritualistic papers have been published from time to time in various 
parts of the Brazilian empire: — In the Province of Bahia, 1865, Monitor de Alem 
Tumulo — (The Monitor from Beyond the Tomb) — a monthly journal ; at Rio de Janeiro, 
in 1875, the Revista Espirita (Spiritual Review), monthly ; in 1881, the Revista da 
Sociedade Academica ; in San Pablo, at the city of Areas, the Uniao e Cronca (Union and 
Chronicle) ; at Pernambuco in the city of Recife, A Cruz (The Cross) ; and we are told 
that there will shortly be published in this city an organ for the Spiritual circles of the 
municipality. — Revista, of Rio de Janeiro." 

The promise contained in the above paragraph, taken from one of the 
secular papers of Rio de Janeiro, was soon after its pubhcation realised by 
the appearance of La Revista, a title so common amongst these South 
American journals that their number is hardly appreciated in the confusion 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 289 

of names. Dr. Ditson notices one of the best of these journals, published 
in the Portuguese language, as follows : — 

"The Revista da Sociedade Academica, No. 7, of Rio de Janeiro, in the Portuguese 
language, has come to hand. It is a very handsome magazine of upwards of thirty pages, 
and contains many articles of the first importance. ... It was in 1865, in the city 
of S. Salvador, capital of the province of Bahia, that the first Society of Spiritualists, 
with a written constitution, was formed ; and for eight years, animated by the salutary 
doctrines of Spiritualism, it worked and fought for the cause. In 1869 it published a 
journal entitled, Echo from Beyond the Tomb. In 1872 a new society was formed for 
the exclusive scientific investigation of Spiritualism, and was called the " As»ociacion 
Spiritica Brazileira." It adopted as a basis of operations Allan Kardec's works. It 
started a periodical and a library. In 1880 in Campos, a flourishing city in the province 
of Rio de Janeiro, there was formed another society — the S. Campista de Estudos Spiritas, 
and many members were added to it, &c., but they had to withstand the usual amouut 
of calumnies. 

" La Luz de Sinn is the name of a spiritualistic periodical published at Bogota, in the 
United States of Colombia. It has very attractive matter taken from the work, ' Roma 
and the Evangelic ; ' some ' Letters of Lavater,' and some miscellaneous articles. 

" La Revelacion, of Buenos Ayres, reappears again, ' after a suspension caused by the 
Jesuits, the principal barriers to modern progress,' says a European paper. 

" La Ley de Amor, of Merida, Yucatan (July 16th and August 1st), has also reached me. 
A very sensible article fiom the ' Circle Peralta ' on the historical and present daily prot)fs 
of Spiritualism, opens the July number. The Ley also says ' that there have been 
established in our state various ''circles" for spiritualistic studies.' From To basco have 
been received notices of the 'rapid advance of the consoling doctrine of Spiritualism.' 
At the ' circle ' of La Cruz they have a valuable medium, a somnambule lucida, who has 
made some remarkable cures." 

Another notice of this paper says : — 

" La Ley de Amor, of Yucatan. I have in hand three numbers of this interesting 
little journal, bearing dates October 9th and 25th and November 10th. The first article 
that claims attention is from the graceful pen of the poetess, Donna Amalia Soler. 
Briefly I will report her as saying : ' In a reunion of Spiritualists an elegant youth 
presented himself, but expressed his incredulity in the alleged phenomena occurring 
among them ; still he would put a mental question. A young girl took a pencil and 
wrote some lines in a large hand, exclaiming in innocent surprise : " Oh, what a reply ! 
What nonsense ! " The young man took it and read, growing sober and pale as he did 
so ; " En el claustro materno. " It is true,' he said, 'for I came into the world three 
months after the death of my father ; and my question was, " Where was I at that 
solemn event ? " At another spiritualistic gathering was an Englishman who maintained 
a kind of stolid indifference to all that occurred, but finally, with the rest, promised to 
attend mass the next day at eight o'clock in the church of St. Paul. All went, and while 
the rest of the party were grouped around the high altar, he retired to a side aisle, where, 
seated on a bench, he read a book which he took from his pocket. At the seance on the 
following evening the Englishman said to the spirits (supposed) : " Were you content to 
see us all at the appointed place ? " " Yes," was the reply, '• and I felt very grateful that 
you prayed for me, but my satisfaction was lessened by seeing one of your number 
perform an irreligious act — retiring to read a licentious novel." The English gentleman 
arose as pale as a corpse and said it was even as stated ; and then and there confessed 
that there must be a spirit that could see and feel even as we do, &c. Henceforth he 
was an earnest Spiritualist. ' Laugh if you will,' says our authoress, ' but that does not 
destroy facts.' So she continues : ' A physician, a materialist, called on a young man, a 
medium, and found that he had written quite a learned treatise, much above his normal 
capacity, on pulmonary affections. " I will believe in this thing," said he, " if my deceased 
wife will come and in her own handwriting will state to me something <f a private nature 
that occurred between us." The medium soon wrote : '' Spirits are not in the habit of satis- 
fying puerile curiosity, but because of my love of you when on the earth I will give you the 
evidence you seek : As a pledge of my affection, in your secretary you have kept, now 
yellowed by time, the first letter I ever wrote to you. Some of its lines are now very 
faint, but the medium will copy them." . . . Julian hastened home and found the 
original, as copied, that he had preserved for more than twenty years, saying, ''I lament 
the time that I have lost in not devoting myself to Spiritualism." ' " 
19 



290 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" The Siglo XIX., of Guadaloupe, reports in a jesting manner a Spiritual manifesta- 
tion which occurred to a young girl, religious and much respected, and of a good family in 
Gaudaloupe. The little medium experienced certain phenomena which were augmented 
till she saw and heard the phantom of her godmother, or guardian, who came to reproach 
herself for not having had the child baptized, and to have the ceremony performed. 
Other manifestations occurred in the child's presence, such as the flying open of doors, 
which doubtless aided in convincing the bishop, to whom the affair was named, that there 
was something in it. The baptism took place, and during the ceremony the girl and she 
who was serving as godmother saw the attending spirit." 

" La Aurora, of Brazil, and La Revista, of Santiago de Chile, have also such communi- 
cations as tend to enlighten ' all those who through fear and ignorance are still found under 
the clerical yoke.' Don Eafael Molina in the University has delivered a discourse 
demonstrating the truths of Spiritualism, as well as the heresies of the Church of Rome, 
which has ehcited much comment." 

Writing of Spiritualism in Puerto Rico in November, 1881, Dr. Ditson 
says : — 

" El Pelegnno is a quarto of eight pages, and unfurls the banner of our faith with such 
a firm hand and such force of character that one cannot but heed and respect its preten- 
sions. I have three numbers, dating to September 8th, and I only regret that space will 
limit me to a brief notice of its forcible articles. One, headed ' El cura de Utuado,' states 
that the dead body of Don E. Vargas was refused admittance to the Catholic church 
because Don V. had been a Spiritualist ; and that when the friends had taken it to the 
cemetery, there intolerance again met them, and it was refused a resting-place in the 
so-called sacred ground. Again, the conduct of the curate of Caguas in refusing to baptize 
the child of a Spiritualist is commented upon at great length, and most judiciously." 

In the January,, 1882, number of Light, we find the following article, 
which we give as our closing notice of Spiritualism in those vast regions 
where internal interests are so inevitably focalized by distance from other 
Spiritual centres, that they seem almost tefra i?icdgnita, the fraternal spirit 
and enterprise which marks the propositions about to be quoted, are equally 
worthy of respectful attention and sympathetic response, from all quarters 
of the globe. 

They are introduced by the editor of La Revue Spirite thus : — 

" HOW SPIRITUALISM IS WORKING IN BRAZIL. 

" Under the heading of ' Universalisation of Spiritualism,' in its December number, 
the Revue Spirite invites attention to an announcement in the Revista da Sociedade 
Academica, whose publishing office is No. 54, Praga d'Acclama9ao, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 
The Revista is the organ of the Brazilian Society of Spiritualists, naively calling itself here 
the Brazilian group of the human family. Having the object in view, it says, of drawing 
more closely together the bonds of fraternal action among Spiritualists, it proposes to 
exchange the Revista and all its publications for the organ and publications of any and 
every other Spiritualist society, wishing to place them on the bookshelves and reading 
tables of the library of the Society, which is open to the public. 

" Competitive Theses. 

" Further, in order to attract the attention of all, down to Materialists, to the study of 
the Spiritual world, we invite — it says — theses to be sent in : the subject to be — Ood, the 
human soul and its immortality scientifically demonstrated. As an extra inducement to 
engage in this work, the Society ofiers the sum of two contos de Reis (about 5,000 francs) 
to the writer of the accepted thesis, in addition to the prize awarded by the Academy. 
(What the prize is, is not here specified.) This is the programme : — 

" ' 1 . Every thesis sent in to be distinguished by a motto, and accompanied by a letter 
containing a duplicate of the motto, and the name of author, date, and abode. Theses 
are receivable up to December 31st, 1882. 

" ' 2. Theses written in a foreign language to be accompanied by a translation in 
Portuguese. (Translators may be found at any Brazilian or Portuguese legation or 
consulate.) 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 291 

" ' 3. The thesis accepted will be printed at the expense of the Society. Those written 
in foreign languages can be pubhshed with the translation. 

" ' 4. Every thesis will be numbered correspondingly with the registration of the letters 
accompanying the theses, which letters will be kept inviolable. 

" ' 5. A council will be appointed, consisting of representatives of the scientific and 
philosophic schools, in due time, which will examine and report upon the theses. 

" ' 6. After discussing the council's report, the Academy will appoint a time for opening 
the letter corresponding to the thesis most approved. 

" ' At a formal meeting of the Academy, the author of the thesis most approved, or his 
representative, will be invited to receive the prize awarded by the Academy. In addition 
he will receive from the Society the sum before mentioned.' 

" The Society will forward a historical summary of Spiritualism in Brazil to every 
Spiritualist centre which communicates with it, and in this matter reciprocity is expected 
because the interest is the same on both sides. ' This would lead,' it says, ' to a veritable 
Spiritualist congress. Animated by the same sentiments, true Spiritualists have little need 
to meet within four walls for agreement, for generalising an idea ; being one in spirit, and 
bound together by the same mission, they ought to interchange thought in whatever part 
of the world they may be." " 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST INDIES, CHINA, INDIA, &C., &C. 

Spiritualism in China, 

The Spiritualistic beliefs and practices of nearly all Oriental nations com- 
mence with their recorded history, and while they assimilate in quality 
and style of phenomena with the modern methods of Spirit communion, 
there are lines of demarcation in the processes of invocation^ and the uses 
to which that communion is applied, which separate the East and West, 
and do not seem likely to be overcome or united. 

In a work entitled "Art Magic," edited and published by the author of 
this volume, and written by a learned gentleman, who had personally 
witnessed all he described, vivid accounts are given of Spiritual manifes- 
tations amongst the Mongolians, including narratives of the marvellous 
powers exercised by certain " Lamas," or religious devotees, in cutting and 
mutilating their bodies, and restoring them again without signs of injury, 
in a single minute. 

M. Le Hue, and Mr, McGowan, the well-known Jesuit and Scotch 
missionaries, testify to having witnessed similar performances, and both 
add extraordinary narratives of the power acquired by some of the Mongol 
priests and ascetics in the production of phenomena which transcend 
description or belief. Besides feats of this astounding character, many of 
the Chinese practise modes of Spirit communion by rapping, writing, the 
movement of inanimate bodies ; through trances, prevision and clair- 
voyance. One of the simplest methods employed in communicating with 
Spirits is described by M. Le Hue as follows : — 

" As a vehicle for spirit communications the Chinese strew a table with sand and on 
this the written characters are traced by means of a pencil made from the twig of a 
peach tree. It is said that ' the motions of the pencil are quite extraordinary, and appa- 
rently not produced by the medium, on whose open palms the handle of the pencil rests.' 
Irreverent lookers-on are sharply rebuked by the ministering spirit. After each sentence 



292 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

the sand has to be smoothed, and while this is being done, the whole company unite in 
praising the poetical talents of the spirit, which responds by tracing on the sand the char- 
acters which constitute the message. When wearied it ' jots down as if in a great hurry 
the two characters, " Excuse me, I am off ; " ' whereupon the company say, ' If there was 
any want of respect or attention, great spirit, we beseech thee forgive us this sin,' after 
which the stance comes to an end." 

In a recent number of the Banner of Light ^ an able correspondent writes 
an account of a seance which so nearly resembles the descriptions given by- 
many travellers and missionaries, that we transcribe a portion of the narra- 
tive, as it will illustrate phenomenal methods, very common in China : — 

" The temple of Loi-Sun-Yaong at Canton is one of the many places to which the 
people resort to receive communications by means of mediumistic writing, and may be 
described as an illustration of all. In the temple is an altar at which a monk presides. 
The petitioner for a communication kneels with the monk in front of the altar, and both 
engage in earnest supplications. Beside the altar stands another monk, in front of whom 
is a large board covered with sand. There is another officiator near by with pen and 
paper, prepared to copy the message when it appears, and still another whose office it is to 
explain it. The writing is done vsrith a stick made of white wood, about one foot long, 
resembling a large pen-holder, from the under side of which, when it is in position to use, 
projects a small piece of wood which writes on the sanded board. Mrs. Gray, the widow 
of Archdeacon Gray, for many years a missionary in China, states that on one occasion 
she visited the temple to witness the manner of proceeding, remarking that for many 
centuries spiritual manifestations have been known and believed in, in that empire. 

" At the time Mrs. Gray and her husband visited the temple, they were informed that 
a devotee who was present, was impatient to obtain a written message, and supposing 
they came for a similar purpose, the person in charge begged them to wait. After the 
prayers at the altar, the stick of white wood was taken by the chief officiator, balanced on 
his two fore-fingers, and thus held above the sanded board. In a few moments it began 
to move, tracing large characters in the sand. When the surface had been entirely 
covered, the writing was transcribed on paper. The sand was then shaken so that it pre- 
sented an even surface, and the board was again placed ready for use. This was done three 
times. The fourth time, the lightly balanced wooden instrument refused to move, and 
the holder of it said the communicator had left. 

" Table-moving has long been known and practised in China. On one occasion some 
missionaries had a medium in their own house. A large round table was brought and 
placed, feet upwards, on the floor. Four of their servants were called in, and each was 
told to place one of his hands on a foot of the table. The medium then began to walk 
around it with slow and measured steps, holding lighted joss sticks in his hands and 
invoking the presence of unseen powers. In a few moments, the table began to revolve 
slowly. Then the medium increased his speed, and the table tui'ned more swiftly, until 
both table and medium ran round with great velocity. Of course the hands of the 
servants were not now upon it. They stood speechless in amazement. At length, ex- 
hausted, the man stood still, and the table ceased to move. He was asked how he 
accomplished the feat ? In a low, subdued voice, he replied : ' It is Joss that does it ; I 
pray to him.' It was doubtless a manifestation of some spirit, but the ascribing it to 
' Joss ' was in keeping with the scriptural accounts of similar events, in which they were 
said to be performed by God. 

" These manifestations have existed among the Chinese for ages, probably to an 
extent greater than among us, for the reason that a belief in the possibility of their occur- 
rence has formed the primitive or spontaneous faith of the people." 

From the author of " Art Magic," Captain Thomas Hunt, of Salem, U.S., 
and the Hon. Charles Bradley, all of whom have been residents in China, 
as well as from her own Chinese servants in California, the author has 
learned that manifestations of similar character to those above detailed, as 
well as feats of physical strength, and mental forms of intelligence, have 
been common amongst the Chinese, ages before modern Spiritualism was 
known. 

The latter is practised at times amongst the white residents, and the 
modes are founded upon European and American experiences; but the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 293 

Spiritualists of the white and yellow races, despite their significant resem- 
blance, do not blend, and the Chinese — especially the better educated 
portions of the community — regard the matter of fact, and only partially 
successful practices of the whites, with some contempt. Dr. Ah Sin, a very 
well educated and intelUgent medical practitioner of Australia, said to the 
author when conversing on these subjects : — " You are really behind the 
times, and ought to call SpirituaUsm no longer modern, but ancient. 
Sounds and motions are only made by Spirits to attract notice, but true 
communion is by words, writings, and speech, such as is uttered, when the 
Spirit enters the body of another. All this — besides sie fa (evil power) 
which enables men to cut and hack their bodies, and cure them again on 
the instant — the Chinese have had amongst them from the beginning of 
time, certainly since the days of Lao Kuin." 

Lao Kuin — the intelligent reader will remember — was a cotemporary of 
Confucius. The latter was only a philosopher and a compiler ; Lao Kuin 
was a " saint," an ascetic, a wonder worker. 

He was the founder of the sect Tao tse, the votaries of which are all 
Spiritualists. It is said by Chinese traditions, that after Lao Kuin had 
left the earth, — " being translated bodily to heaven in a chariot of fire," one 
morning, there was found hanging on a tree in the Emperor's garden, a 
wonderful book full of magical rites, invocations of Spirits, wise sayings, 
and divine revelations. The emperor himself carried this book in solemn 
procession, and with high ceremonial rites, to the principal monastery, and 
from thence, guidance and direction in all that belongs to Spirit power and 
communion, has been received for ages. This book is said by some to have 
been burned, other authorities claim Lao Kuin as its author, and declare it 
is still the Bible of the Tao tse. Dr. Ah Sin showed the author a finely 
illuminated work which is the " Spirit book " of the Lamasery in which as a 
youth he had been educated. In this work are forty-six modes of invoking 
Spirits (gods) for different purposes, and with different powers and functions. 
Amongst these modes, are the burning of incense, fragrant herbs, gums, 
paper images, gilt flowers, and pungent perfumes. Sometimes the votaries 
employ motions, such as dancing, whirling, and spinning ; at others, they 
resort to the beating of drums and ringing of bells to induce the "mantic 
ecstasy " or to invoke certain orders of Spirits. The most approved modes 
of summoning " high and holy Spirits," are those employed by religious 
ascetics, such as prayer, fasting, and silent contemplation. 

Spells, enchantments, and amulets are also considered efficaciousj but 
ascetic and devotional processes are preferred above all others, that is, in 
high ceremonial rites. 

Bamboo sticks placed on newly strewn sand or fine ashes, are often used 
by Spirits through Chinese Media, to draw characters, figures, and land- 
scapes. They have modes of drawing lots, also of tossing up shells, shoot- 
ing arrows, setting up staves, and making circles on the ground, in which 
objects thrown, and falling in certain directions, are accepted as good or 
evil auguries. The reader curious in these rites and ceremonies need only 
consult Godwyn's curious treatise on The Antiquities atid Divination of the 
Hebrews'*' to find numbers of the modes practised by the Chinese, but 
claimed by them to be derived from antique sources, which far antedate the 
appearance of the Jews on the page of history. 



* "(Moses and Aaron)— Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites of the Ancient Hebrews." By Thomas Godwyn, 
B.D., 1628. 




294 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



Amongst the Chinese, as with every other people, women are considered 
now — although not in past times — to be the best diviners, augurs, and 
prophets. Their services in these directions are much more in demand 
than formerly, and in this respect it is probable that the practices of modern 
Mediumship have tended to produce this result, even amongst the con- 
servative Clainese. 

It would be unnecessary to refer to the religious doctrines, or, if it may 
be so termed, the theology of the Mongol tribes. It is enough to say that 
modern Spiritualism honeycombs their ranks, wherever white men appear, 
or have settlements. This movement makes no visible progress amongst 
the yellow races, simply because they have Spiritualism already, and that in 
forms better adapted than ours, to the idiosyncracies of the people, and to 
their apprehension, far more effective and powerful. 

Whilst the Siamese, Japanese, and indeed all the Mongolians indulge in 
great varieties of speculative doctrines, all are more or less practical 
Spiritualists, and believe in communion with the souls of ancestors. 

The opinion of many intelhgent persons who have resided amongst these 
people is, that their communications transcend in directness, good counsel, 
and prevision, any that are manifested amongst the Europeans or Americans, 
and the reasons assigned are, because the modes of invocation are more 
real and devotional, the trance more profound, and the preparation for 
such conditions, more in harmony with physiological and psychological 
laws. 

Our highly-advanced civilians would rush through a dozen Spirit circles, 
whilst the Chinese monk was reverently preparing himself for one. Fasting, 
asceticism, silent contemplation, ablutions, prayers, and all the formulae so 
faithfully observed by these "heathens," would hardly suit the luxurious 
habits or feverish whirl of life to which civilized nations are habituated ; 
hence modern Spiritualists from Europe and America, are no more likely 
to convert the Spiritualists of China, Thibet, Siam, &c., than the Christian 
missionary is likely to convert the true and earnest Buddhist. The world 
mowts forward, not backward, and Spiritualism and theology move along 
with it. 

SPIRITUALISM IN INDIA. 

In the present section of our matter of fact history we must not be 
expected to catalogue, much less to define, the various doctrinal theories 
that prevail in India, nor yet to enter at any length upon those subjects of 
discussion which have of late years occupied the attention of widely-differing 
parties, under the several captions of "Occultism" and "SpirituaHsm." 
Something of both these subjects we shall have to touch upon briefly in 
this very chapter; for the present however, we must call attention to the 
definitions under which Spiritual beliefs and doctrines in India may be 
classified. 

As a general rule, the white population settled in India rank themselves 
under the appellation of " Christians," and believe or deny, only that which 
their special sect teaches. 

There are in these ranks, some few Spiritualists, and some Secularists, 
but metaphysical thinking in India is fatiguing ; hence the rule is, to think 
only through a paid and duly appointed religious teacher, and leave 
metaphysics and all its ramifications to Fakirs, Yogis, and restless 
reformers. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 295 

Amongst the native Hindoos, there is almost as great a diversity of 
opinion upon the questions of religion or theology, as in the ranks of 
Christianity. 

The beliefs of the villagers and lower classes generally, tend to gross 
forms of " supernaturalism," but the religious devotees of various grades, 
often attain to high conditions of Spiritual exaltation, and by the pecuUar 
practices enjoined upon them in processes of initiation, achieve the 
power of working what in olden time would have been deemed miracles, 
but what is now understood to be the control of matter and material 
things, by mental and Spiritual forces. 

Some of the far-famed religious ascetics of India, are members of secret 
associations and fraternities ; many of them belong to religious orders, and 
some few are isolated students of occult power, who have acquired their 
magical potency by research and observance of those practices, which even 
the highest adept must pass through, if he desires to attain to complete 
mastery over the realm of sensuous existence. 

In the immense wave of immigration which political changes have cast 
on Hindoo soil during the last century, many things have come to hght 
in connection with this ancient land, which have created a deep impression 
on public opinion. The partial translation of once unknown and " sacred" 
books mto European languages, has revealed the fact that India has been 
the cradle of all known theological beUefs. The examination of the wonderful 
archseological remains of vast temples with which the land is studded, have 
tended still further to confirm the truth of these revelations, whilst the 
actual marvels wrought by reHgious ascetics, in the realms of matter and 
force, have opened up a new and highly suggestive page in the study of 
Occultism and Psychology. 

As before remarked, the upper classes of the white population in British 
India are for the most part too much enervated by the influence of its tropical 
climate to concern themselves very deeply with metaphysical subjects. 
The continued effort, the patient attention and aspiration required at the 
Spirit circle, is so rarely attainable amongst the luxurious residents of 
British India, that the few Spiritualists with whom the author is in commu- 
nication, express grave doubts if " modern Spiritualism " — in the European 
sense of the term — will gain any considerable foothold in India during this 
generation. The religious enthusiast, or even the specious impostor, is 
sure to command his share of following from all classes, but when the 
more intelligent Anglo-Indians wish to be informed concerning the alleged 
possibilities of intercourse with the Spiritual realm of being, rather than 
subject themselves to the trouble of personal investigation, they send for a 
Hindoo " wonder worker," and whether he be a genuine Yogi, or a cunning 
conjurer, it makes but little difference. Provided he can amuse, as well as 
astonish his employers, the purpose is answered; and as far as his feats 
bear upon Spiritual verities, the witnesses may be more or less inclined to 
accept of the generic explanation of a Spiritual agency. There have been of 
late several movements of a semi-spiritual, as well as religious or meta- 
physical character attempted in India, and as one in which a large 
number of European and American Spiritualists have taken a deep interest, 
and with which many have entered into ties of affiliation, it is in order at 
this point, to give some brief notice of "The Theosophical Society" of 
Bombay,* the city in which that society has established its headquarters, 

* Since this chapter was first indited, the Theosophical Society's headquarters are announced as having 
, been removed to Madras. 



2 96 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

and from which it issues its chief literary organ, namely, The Theosophist, a 
monthly journal, avowedly devoted to an exposition of "theosophy," and 
kindred subjects. 

As offering the most impartial information concerning the origin of this 
Society, that can be laid before the reader, the following extract is 
given from one of the New York daily journals, subsequently reprinted in 
the Boston Spiritual Scientist of 1876. It reads as follows : — 

"a theosophical society. 

" One movement of great importance has just been inaugurated in New York, under 
the lead of Colonel Henry S. Olcott, in the organization of a society to be known as ' The 
Theosophical Society.' The suggestion was entirely unpremeditated, and was made on the 
evening of the 7th instant, in the parlors of Madame Blavatsky, where a company of 
seventeen ladies and gentlemen had assembled to meet Mr. George Henry Felt, whose 
discovery of the geometrical figures of the Egyptian Cabbala may be regarded as among 
the most surprising feats of the human intellect. The company included several persons 
of great learning and some of wide personal influence. The managing editor of two 
religious papers ; the co-,editors of two literary magazines ; an Oxford LL.D. ; a venerable 
Jewish scholar and traveller of repute ; an editorial writer of one of the New York morning 
dailies ; the president of the New York Society of Spiritualists ; Mr. C C. Massey, an 
English visitor ; Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten and Dr. Britten ; two New York lawyers, 
besides Colonel Olcott ; a partner in a Philadelphia publishing house ; a well-known 
physician ; and, most notable of all, Madame Blavatsky herself, comprised Mr. Felt's 
audience. 

" After his discourse, an animated discussion ensued. During a convenient pause in the 
coiiversation, Colonel Olcott rose, and after briefly sketching the present condition of the 
Spiritualistic movement, the attitude of its antagonists, the materialists ; the irrepressible 
conflict between science and the religious sectaries ; the philosophical character of the 
ancient theosophies, and their sufficiency to reconcile all existing antagonisms, and the 
apparently sublime achievement of Mr. Felt in extracting the key to the architecture of 
Nature from the scanty fragments of ancient lore left us by the devastating hands of the 
Moslem and Christian fanatics of the early centuries, he proposed to form a nucleus around 
which might gather all the enlightened and brave souls who were willing to work together 
for the collection and diffusion of knowledge. His plan was to organise a society of 
occultists and begin at once to collect a library, and diffuse information concerning those 
secret laws of nature which were so familiar to the Chaldeans and Egyptians, but are 
totally unknown by our modern world of science. 

" Mr. Felt said, in reply to questions, that communion of mortals with the dead, and the 
reciprocal intervention of each in the affairs of the other, was not a mere conjecture among 
the ancient Egyptians, but reduced to a positive science, and he himself had been able to 
cause the materialization of human forms in full daylight, by magical appliance. 

" It was unanimously voted to organise the proposed society forthwith. Colonel Olcott 
was elected temporary president, and a committee was appointed to draft a constitution 
and by-laws. 

" We hail the movement with great satisfaction, as likely to aid in bringing order out 
of our present chaos, furnish us a true philosophy of spirit-intercourse, and afford a 
neutral ground upon which the tired wrestlers of the Church and College may rest from 
their cruel and illogical strife." 

Shortly after the first formation of this Society, in which all the parties 
alluded to above took part, and filled offices, it was deemed desirable to 
conduct the proceedings on the basis of a secret society, from which time, 
the Fellows of the New York Theosophical Society were known to each 
other by the usual formulae of passwords, grips, signs, &c. In this, as in 
all other associations banded together for the study of occult subjects, it 
may be naturally supposed there are esoteric, as well as merely exoteric 
degrees^ and results attainable only to those who could, and would pursue, 
their studies, to the innermost depths of nature's laboratories. 

Of the original group of New York Theosophists, several have seceded. 
Some were removed by mortal death, and others by absence. Madame 
Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, the founders of the Society, themselves passed 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 297 

on to England, and after remaining there a short time, and inaugurating a 
branch Society which still holds its sessions in London, they took up their 
residence in India, from whence their influence still ramifies to other 
branch Theosophical Societies, established in different parts of the world. 
The Theosophist — the monthly journal before mentioned — published at 
Madras — has now entered upon the sixth year of its circulation, and the 
parent Society is presided over in person by its founders. 

There are still many points connected with this Society, of which even 
its avowed disciples seem to be ignorant. 

Questions are constantly propounded concerning the aims., powers^ and 
scope of the Association, and it is in view of some misunderstanding that 
prevails on these pomts, that we shall give the substance of a correspondence 
published in The Theosophist of October, 1881, the nature of which speaks 
for itself. 

It commences thus : — 

"fragments of occult truth. 

" We have received from our esteemed Australian brother theosophist, W. H. Terry, 
Esq., the following interesting and temperate note on some supposed errors of Occultists, 
when dealing with the phenomena of Spiritualism. The subject is -one of universal 
interest, and we shall require therefore no apology either for reproducing our good 
brother's communication in extenso,- or for appending thereto some few fragments of the 
lessons taught us in the occult schools, which may possibly both help to remove his per- 
sonal difl&culties, and tend to convey to Spiritualists generally, a clearer conception of the 
causes of many of the phenomena of which they have had experience." 

Then follows a long letter written by Mr. Terry, editor of the Australian 
Harbinger of Light., complaining that he, being like a very large number of 
other Spiritualists in different parts of the world, a member of the Theo- 
sophical Society, and a reader of the Society's alleged organ. The 
Theosophist, finds the agency of disembodied human" spirits ignored as 
factors in the production of modern Spiritual manifestations by the leading 
writers, of The Theosophist., and the phenomena which Spiritualists are accus- 
tomed to attribute to the agency of Spirit friends, who present the most 
conclusive tokens of their identity, referred to " elementaries, geister, 
shells," &c., &c. Mr. Terry cites a number of cases occurring in his own 
experience, and that of numerous friends, clairvoyants, and mediums, all 
tendmg to prove the agency of intelligent, Hving, spirit individualities. 
After dwelling at great length upon these points, and summing up his testi- 
mony in a very clear and logical manner, Mr. Terry desires to be informed, 
what other explanation than the agency of spirits identical with the men 
and women who have once lived on earth, the editor of The Theosophist 
can offer him. 

To this very reasonable request, the editor appealed to answers, in an 
article so long, verbose, and incomprehensible, that the author, judging of 
the majority of her readers by herself, fears it may be " defining night by 
darkness " to attempt reprinting the same in its entirety. 

The following extracts, however, apply to the most salient points of the 
whole subject, and as they are given with sufficient definiteness of expression 
to be fairly understood, they are earnestly commended to the readers 
attention : — 

" It is but fair that we should meet the charge brought, and iu the same friendly and 
frank spirit shown in his letter by our esteemed Australian brother Theosophist. Until 
some one more competent enters the arena of discussion to pick up the glove flung by 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



Spiritualism to Theosophy across the oceans, we will take the liberty of saying a few 
words — not in our defence — but as a matter of courtesy to our correspondent. 

" ' Those Theosophists who deny to disembodied spirits a legitimate share in the 
marvellous phenomena ' are few, indeed, for the great majority of Theosophists concern 
themselves luith Spiritualism very little — if at all* Indeed, our members may be divided 
into five principal classes and described as follows : — 

"1. Men profoundly concerned ia the revival of their respective religious philosophies 
in all their pristine purity — Buddhist devotees outnumbering all others. These neither 
know of, nor do they care for, Spiritualism. (?) 

" 2. Students of various philosophies, searchers after truth, whencesoever it may 
come. They neither believe nor disbelieve in spirits. They are open to conviction in 
any way, but will accept nothing on second-hand testimony. 

" 3. Materialists, Freethinkers, Agnostics, who care as little for Occultism as they do 
for Spiritualism. Their only concern is to free the masses from the fetters of ignorance 
and superstition, and educate them. ... 

" 4. Spiritualists and Spiritists who could not weU be accused of any such ' heresy.' 
And finally, 

" 5. Occultists, who do not number half a per cent, in the Theosophical Society. 

" These latter are the only ' Theosophists ' who are really open to our correspondent's 
accusation, and even these, if we look beyond the veil of words which more or less 
conceals the ideas of both Spiritualists and Occultists, will prove to differ less widely on 
these points from our correspondent than he seems to suppose, . . . and here the 
confiict of opinions between Spiritualists and Occultists is solely due to the fact that 
the former (who overrate their quality and character) dignify by the name of ' spirits ' 
certain reliquiae of deceased human beings, while the Occultists reserve the name of Spirit 
for the highest principle of human nature and treat these relijuice as mere eidolons, or 
astral simulacra, of the real spirit. 

" In order to understand clearly the view of the Occultists, it is necessary to glance 
at the constitution of the living human being. Even the spiritual theory teaches that 
man is a trinity, composed of (1) a higher spirit, or the "Spiritual Soul" as ancient 
philosophers designated it ; (2) its envelope — the etherial form or shadow of the body — 
and (3) the physical body. 

" Although from one point of view this is broadly correct, yet, according to Occultists, 
to render our conceptions of this truth clearer and follow successfully the course of man 
after death, it is necessary to subdivide further these three entities and resolve them 
into their constituent principles. This analysis being almost wholly unknown to 
Western nations, it is difficult in some cases to find any English words by which to 
represent the Occult subdivisions, but we give them in the least obscure phraseology 
that we can command. 

SUBDIVISIONS OF THE OCCULTISTS. 

f 1. The Physical body, composed wholly of matter in 

I its grossest and most tangible form. 

-{ 2. The Vital principle, a form of force, indestructible, 



DIVISIONS OF THE SPIRITUALISTS. 



1. The Body. 



2. The Animal Soul or Perisprit. 



and when disconnected with one set of atoms, 
becoming attracted immediately by others. 

3. The Astral body, composed of highly etherialized 
matter ; in its habitual passive state, the perfect 
but very shadowy duplicate of the body ; its 
activity, consolidation, and form depending 
on the Jcama rupa. 

i. The Astral shape {kama rupa) or body of desire, 
a principle defining the configuration of — 

5. The animal or physical intelligence or consciousness 
or Ego, analogous to, though proportionately 
higher in degree than, the reason, instinct, 
memory, imagination, &c., existing in the higher 



3. The Spiritual Soul or Spirit. 



6. The higher or Spiritual intelhgence, or consciousness, 

or Spiritual Ego, in which mainly resides the 
sense of consciousness in the perfect man, 
though the lower dimmer animal consciousness 
exists in No. 3. 

7. The Spirit — an emanation from the Absolute ; 

uncreated, eternal ; a state rather than a being. 



* Italics are the author's throughout. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 299 

"Now the change that we call death, only immediately affects the first three con- 
stituents ; the body decomposes to enter into new combinations, and the vital force is 
dissipated to help animate new organisms, and the astral human form dies with the body. 

" There remain four principles. As a rule (we except the case of the higher adepts) 
one of two things occurs in accordance with the universal law of affinity. If the spiritual 
Ego has been in life material in its tendencies, placing its main enjoyment in the 
gratification of its earthly desires, then at death it continues to cling to the lower elements 
of its late combination, and the true Spirit severs itself from these and passes away 
elsewhere. To follow its course is beside the present question, since the remaining 
principles in which personal or aninjal consciousness remain have farted with it for 
ever. . . . Suffice it to say now, that it passes away, talcing with it no fragment of 
the individual consciousness of the man with which it was temporarily associated. . . . 

"But if on the other hand, the tendencies of the Ego have been towards things 
spiritual . . . then will it cling to the Spirit, and with this pass into the adjoining (so 
called) world of effects (in reality a state not a place), and there purified of much of its 
still remaining material taints, evolve out of itself by the Spirit's aid a new Ego, to be 
reborn after a brief period of freedom and enjoyment in the next higher world of 



" Now neither during its gestation in the subjective world of effects, nor after its 
entry on rebirth into the higher objective world of causes— caw the Ego re-enter this 
present world. ... It cannot, even if it would, span the abyss that separates its state 
from ours. . . . Once reborn into the higher world and (independent of the physical 
impossibility of any communication between its world and ours, to all but the very 
highest adepts) the new Ego has become a new person ; it has lost the old consciousness, 
linked with earthly experiences, and has acquired a new consciousness which, as time rolls 
on, will be interpenetrated by its experiences, in that higher sphere. . . . 

" Therefore it is that the Occultists maintain that no Spirits of the departed can appear 
or take part in the phenomena of the seance-room. To what can appear and take part in 
these the Occultists refuse the name of Spirits.* 

" But it may be said — what is it that ca,n appear ? We reply — merely the animal soul 
or perisprit of the deceased. . . . Immediately on the severance of the Spirit — 
whether at death or before death — the spiritual Ego is dissipated and ceases to exist. . . . 
Thus ahke in all cases that remain, all that can appear are the shells of the deceased, the 
two principles which we call the animal, or surviving astral souls, or animal Ego. But 
there is this to be noted. As the clay, as Sadi says, long retains traces of the perfume of 
the roses, which once honoured it with their companionship, so the etherialized matter 
which has been in combination with spirit, long retains a power of resisting disintegration. 
The more pure the spiritual Ego, the less of the matter which in combinabion with the 
Spirit went to form it, does it leave behind clinging to the two principles ; the more 
impure, the greater the mass of such spirit-vitalized matter which remains to invigorate 
the reliquice. 

" Thus it follows that in the case of the pure and good, the shells rapidly disintegrate, 
and the animal soul having ever been kept in subjection is feeble and will-less, and it can 
very rarely, if ever, happen that such should voluntarily appear or manifest themselves — 
their vitality, desires and aspirations almost exclusively existed in what has passed away. 
No doubt a power exists which can compel even these to appear, a power taught by the 
evil science of necromancy, rightly denounced by all good men of old. But why evil it 
may be asked ? Because until these shells have dissipated, a certain sympathy exists 
between them and the departed spiritual Ego which is gestating in the fathomless womb 
of the adjoining world of effects, and to disturb the shells by necromantic sorcery is 
at the same time to disturb the fcetal spiritual Ego. 

"We said that these shells in such cases rapidly decay, the rapidity being exactly 
proportional to the purity of the departed spiritual Ego ; and we may add that similarly 
the rapidity of gestation of the new Ego is proportional to the purity of the old Ego out 
of which it is evolved. Happily, necromancy is unknown to modern Spiritualists, so that 
it is next to impossible that the reliquiae of the good and pure should ever appear in the seance- 
room. No doubt, the simulacra of some spiritual Egos whose fate trembled in the balance, 
whose affinities, earthwards and heaven-wards, to use the popular phraseology, were nearly 
equal, who have left too much of the matter behind that has been in combination to form 

* And who may the OccultiHs be who "refuse" to give names and definitions deemed to be correct 
by millions of their fellow-mortals? The author of this volume claims to be an " Occultist" — and 
that with as good a right to the cognomen as the editor of The Theosophist, and yet she insists 
that the entire mass of theory presented in these extracts, is theory only — and remains wholly 
undemonstrated, whilst the facts of Spirit communion, the identity of the Spirit, the full pre- 
servation of that identity, continued progress in sphere life, and all the tokens of individuality that 
made the man, woman, or child of earth, are testified to, and corroborated by tens of thousands 
independent and reliable communications given in every country of civilization. — Author. 



30O NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

them, who will lie long in foetal bonds before being able to develop the new Ego -hood ; 
no doubt, we say such simulacra may survive longer and may occasionally appear under 
excepti(jnal conditions in sea?ice-rooms, with a dim-dazed consciousness of their past lives. 
But even this, owing to the conditions of the case, will be rare, and they will never be 
active or intelligent, as the stronger portions of their wills — the higher portions of their 

intelligence — have gone elsewhere Broadly speaking, as a law, it is only the 

reliquice of non-spiritually-minded men, whose spiritual E<os have perished, that appear in 
seance-rooms, and are dignified hy Spiritualists with the title of ' Spirits of the departed.' 

" These shells, these animal souls, in whom still survive the major portions of the intel- 
ligence, will-power, and knowledge that they pos^ssed when incorporated in the human 
combination, invigorated too by the re-assimilation of the spirit-vitalized matter that once 
combined with , the spirit to compose their spiritual Ego, are often powerful and highly 
intelligent, and continue to survive for lengthened periods, their intense desire for earthly 
life enabling them to seize from the decaying simulacra of the good and feeble the material 
for prolonged existence. 

" To these eidolons. Occultists are used to give the name of elementaries, and these it 
is that by the aid of the half -intelligent forces of nature which are attracted to them, 
perform most of the wonders of the se'ance-rooms. If to these shells, these eidolons, which 
have lost their immortality, and whence the Divine essence has for ever departed, our 
brothers, the Spiritualists, insist on applying the title of 'spirits of the dead,' well and 
good — they are not spirits at all, they are of the earth, earthy, all that remains of the 
dead when their spirits have flown — but if this be understood, and it be nevertheless 
considered desirable to call them that to which they are the precise antitheses — it is after 
all merely a case of misnomer. 

" But let there be no mistake as to what they are ; hundreds and thousands of lost 
and ruined men and women all over the globe attest the degradation to which constant 
subjection to their influence in mediumship,* &c., too generally leads, and we who know 
the truth should ill discharge our duty if we did not warn all Spiritualists in the strongest 
terms possible, against allowing this misuse of terms to mislead them as to the real nature 
and character of the disembodied entities with which they so constantly and confidingly 
deal. 

" Now probably Spiritualists will admit that our views would explain the vast mass of 
trash, frivolous nonsense and falsehood communicated through mediums, as also the 
manner in which so many of these, good and honest to begin with, gradually grow into 
immoral impostors. But many objections will be raised. One man will say — ' I have 
repeatedly conversed with my late father — abetter, kinder-hearted, morespiiitual-minded 
man never lived — and on one occasion he told me a fact, unknown to me, and I believe to 
every one living, which I subsequently verified.' 

" Nothing is simpler— the father's image was in the son's mind. Thus put en rappm-t, 
the disembodied elementary which, if of one of the more intelligr-nt classes, has glimpses 
of things in the astral lii;ht, and can here and there dimly distinguish the pictures which 
record every deed, word, and thought (pictures which we are all unconsciously incessantly 
evolving, pictures which survive long after those who originated them have passed away), 
the elementary, we say, scanning these, easily picks up sufficient facts for its purpose, and 
by its will materialises itself, partly out of matter drawn from the medium's body, partly 
out of inert kosmic matter drawn to it by the help of the elementals or half-blind forces 
of nature which it, and probably the medium also, has attracted and stands forth the 
counterpart of the dead father and talks of things known only to that dead father.t 

" And it must be remembered that these apparently strong and perfect cases are very 
rare, and that the elementaries who come as A. or B., usually, if they personate people of 
any note, make gross blunders and almost without exception betray their falsehood in 
one way or another, Shakespeare and Milton dictating trash, Newton grossly ignorant of 
his own Principia, and Plato teaching a washed-out Neo-platonic cu7n sentimental 
Christian philosophy, and so on. At the same time undoubtedly in rare cases the ghostly 
relics of very clever, very bad and very determined men constitute disembodied entities 
of high intelligence, which survive for a lengthened period, and the wickeder and more 
material they are in all thei/r tendencies, the longer do they escape disintegration.t 



* A monstrous libel on unnumbered good and true men and women.— Author. 

t If the father was "the spiritual-minded man" represented above) how comes he to be an 
" elementary?" And again— is not the above process rather too clever a proceeding for a "shell"*- 
with nothing in it— a perfume which a flower has left behind ? 

X Marvellous philosophy ! which attributes all the " trash," &c,, to the third, fourth, or fifth part 
of a man whose life was tolerably good, and all the high intelligence to the emanations of a man whose 
life was very wicked ! 1 ! 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 301 

*' Naturally now some Spiritualists will object that this cannot be true since despite the 
mass of folly and gibberish, or worse, often heard in se'ance-rooms, the purest sentiments 
and really lofty ideas and teachings are not so very rarely expressed through mediums. 

" Several points have, however, to be borne in mind. In the first place, though proved 
unfit for further development, and, therefore, doomed in most cases by the eternal law 
of the survival of the fittest to be disintegrated and, losing personal consciousness, to he 
worked up again in the lower worlds into new combinations, all elementaries are by no 
means actively wicked all round. On the balance, their whole natures proved to have a 
greater affinity to matter than to spirit, and they are, therefore, incapable of further pro- 
gress, but when dealing with a pure circle and speaking through a still pure medium 
(very few mediums, indeed, continue thus after a long course of mediumskip) the better and 
less degraded side of their nature comes out, and it is quite possible for elementaries to 
have a perfect intellectual knowledge and appreciation of virtue and purity and enlightened 
conceptions of truth, and yet be innately vicious in their tendencies. 

" Now it must not for a moment be supposed that all we hear comes from elementaries. 
In the first place, a great many well-known mediums are clever impostors. There are 
notorious trance mediums, especially women, who steadily work up for their so-called 
trance orations, and these being really clever and working at good books, deliver essays of 
a respectable and at times almost first-class character. There is no spiritual influence at 
work here, the only apparently abnormal feature in these cases is that persons possessing 
such fair abilities should be willing thus to prostitute them, and that people who can talk 
so well and touchingly of truth and purity, should yet live such lives of falsehood and 
immorality. Alas ! Tneliora videor proboque deteriora sequor, has ever found a response in 
too many human hearts and has in all ages rung the annihilation-knell of too many Egos.* 

Many other similar attempts to account for all the good in trance 
mediumship are put forth — such as " a seventh principle " being " in 
rapport" with something, somewhere, and a " sixth principle" fishing up 
knowledge " out of the astral light," &c., &c., but it can scarcely be doubted 
that the reader is thoroughly surfeited with such fantastic metaphysics, and 
such grossly ungenerous and unfounded attacks upon a class of persons 
who have done more to reform the age, and teach the elements of a pure 
practical religion, than all the hazy metaphysicians that have essayed to 
found new sects, on the basis of tobacco, hasheesh, and opium visions. 
As a final fling at " the Mediums," and a gentle hint at the only road by 
which heaven can be attained, and final extinction be averted, we commend 
a study of the closing paragraphs. This modest writer adds : — 

" In truth, mediumship is a dangerous, too often a fatal capacity, and if we oppose 
Spiritualism, as we have ever consistently done, it is not because we question the reality 
of their phenomena, which we know can and do occur (despite the multitudes of fraudu- 
lent imitations), and which our adepts can reproduce at willi without danger to themselves, 
but because of the irreparable spiritual injury (we say nothing of the mere physical 
sufferings) which the pursuit of Spiritualism inevitably entails on nine-tenths of the mediums 
employed. We have seen scores, nay rather hundreds of, so to say, good, pure, honest 
young men and women, who but for the cultivation of this evil capacity for the reception 
of impressions by elementaries, might and would in all probability have lived lives leading 
to higher things, but who through the gradual pernicious influence of these low, earth- 
bovmd natures have sunk, from bad to worse, ending, often prematurely, lives that could 
lead but to spiritual ruin. 

" That men bewildered amidst the crumbling ruins of effete religions should madly 
grasp at every clue by which there seems some faint hope of penetrating the cloud- 
shrouded labyrinth of the mystery of the universe, is neither wondeif ul nor reprehensible, 
but it is not through mediums, the prey of every idle spook and elementary that the great 
truth is to be reached, but by that rigorous course of study, self-discipline and self- 
purification which is taught in the temple of Occultism to lohich Theosophy is, in the present 
day, the high road." (?) 

■* On what possible authority could any writer presume to bring such allegations against vast 
numbers of honourable and highly-gifted persons, except he writes from the reflection of a treacherous 
and deceptive nature ? and having been an impostor himself, deems every one else on the same plane. 

t Why does not this Editor produce his adepts ? 



302 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

There only seems to need one more item added to save the race from 
final extinction, and the destroying influence of Spiritualism, which is, to 
give in full, the terms of the initiation fee and membership to the " Theoso- 
phical Society," and the price of subscription to the Theosophical Journal. 
Do this ! and humanity may be redeemed — Fail ! and the world will be 
fall of empty " shells," and heaven a private reserve, inhabited only by the 
very high adepts who have graduated from the schools of Theosophical 
Occultism. In all seriousness however, it must be said that if the author 
had any other interests to serve than those of truth, or if she could believe 
that unsustained and audacious assertions could subvert well-demonstrated 
truths, she would never have wearied her readers with the " fragments of 
Occultism " contained in the above-quoted extracts. They liave been intro- 
duced however for many reasons, one of which is, that the terms " Theoso- 
phy," and "Occultism," have of late been repeatedly paraded before the 
readers of the Spiritual journals, and that with the apparent view of claiming 
those words as the synonym of divers strange doctrines, the special views 
put forth above being one. 

If to be a " Theosophist," means to have been or still be a member of the 
Theosophical Society, then the present writer might make that claim, seeing 
that she was one of the first members ; that the first meetings of the original 
Theosophical Society were held in her house in New York, and as long as 
the Society existed in that city 07i its original lines, the author's name was 
retained as a member of the first council. 

If to be an "Occultist" means to be a member of a fraternity that attempts 
by study and practice, to discover and apply the occult forces of the 
Universe, then has the author as good a right to be termed an Occultist as 
any of the " half per cent " which the editor above quoted claims to exist 
in the Theosophical Society. And yet with some not inconsiderable share 
of esoteric knowledge concerning Theosophy and Theosophists, as well as 
Occultism and Occultists, the author of this volume, whether as a " Theoso- 
phist" or "Occultist," not only repudiates belief in every word of the above 
article, but insists that it libels most unjustly and unwarrantably a large 
number of respectable persons, practising "Mediumship" in different 
countries of the earth, and grossly misrepresents the general aims and 
worth of the entire movement known as " Spiritualism." 

The author does not propose to make these pages the arena of discussion 
for the propositions put forth by the Theosophical editor, because it would 
be tresspassing on space that should be better employed, wearying the 
reader, and pitting a stereotyped volume against the unlimited power of 
retort which the editor of a periodical possesses, and which very few 
persons in such a position fail to turn to their own advantage. 

The article in question has been reprinted, first, as an item of informa- 
tion concerning the environment of the movement which this work is 
designed to describe. 

Next that the readers of the Spiritual journals who must have seen many 
"fragments " of so-called "Occultism " forced on their attention, might derive 
from a sufficiently clear statement, a knowledge of what "Theosophical 
Occultists " teach ; and next, to warn the practical seeker for truth to besvare 
how he leaves the foundation of well-demonstrated facts, to launch out on 
the ocean of vague, speculative theory. 

For the first time in the recorded history of the race, a systematic and 
practical mode of communicating with the inhabitants of the life beyond 
the grave has been achieved. All the conditions necessary to establish the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 303 

identity of the communicating intelligences with the people that once lived 
on earth, have been manifested to tens of thousands of living and respect- 
able witnesses. But one millionth part of the proof of this position 
furnished by modern Spirituahsm, would be accepted as reliable testimony 
by all the courts of judicature in the world. Even the very mass of trashy 
falsehood, &c., which The Theosophist speaks of, as being communicated 
through Mediums, is another proof of the strict humanity of the source 
of many, though by no means all, of the communications. Without advert- 
ing to the false and most ungenerous way, in which this writer attempts to 
slur over the better part of the communications, it is enough to point to 
the fact, apparent to the most superficial thinker, that if the ninety per cent 
of the communications between man and man which any modern city could 
afford, were gathered up, and compared with the mass of " trash," &c., &c., 
claiming a Spiritual origin, the balance would inevitably be found quite 
sufficiently manifest in favour of " the Spirits," to show, that they had 
advanced, to some degree at least, beyond the status of humanity, by 
their residence in the Spirit world. One thing is certain ; less presump- 
tuous, and something more acute writers than this Theosophist, have 
agreed, that the bulk of the communications, whether for good or evil, or 
both, are still strictly human and — in at least one-third of their number — 
are identical with the individuals who have once lived on earth, and whose 
personalities they represent. 

But all this is beneath the " Theosophist's " notice, or if touched on at all 
is contemptuously disposed of according to his ipse dixit — which consists 
of a mass of metaphysical theorems as trashy as any Spirit communications 
he can point to, and as false to the probabilities of natural law, as they are 
irreconcilable with the observed facts of Spiritualism. And finally, the 
author's sense of self-respect and desire to do justice to hundreds of her 
fellow labourers, impels her to protest emphatically against the editor's 
assertions concerning "the mental and physical degradation" which he 
alleges ensues from the practice of Mediumship. In contradiction of this 
unfounded statement, and for the information of the candid truth-seeker, 
the author claims that Mediumship falls on all classes alike; includes the 
pure-minded and the vicious, the healthful and the sick ; that it creates 
nothing, but simply externalizes the latent germs of individual character, 
also that multitudes of sane, pure-minded, and healthful men and women, 
are now living, to testify by their good and virtuous conduct, and their high 
reverence for their Mediumistic gifts, the wholesale slander hurled against 
them, by this Theosophical editor. 

As for the theories he sets forth, the answer in brief is, that they are all 
wholly ufiproved — in short, that there is not a statement contained in the 
article in question, susceptible of verification ; not one but what is made 
on its writer's own responsibility, or at most, on the authority of a " band 
of brothers," who are of no more authority than any other band of brothers, 
of whom there are hosts in the East, as elsewhere, and who singly or 
severally are only authoritative — beyond their particular sphere of disciple- 
ship — in as far as their teachings correspond to such laws, principles, and 
facts, as are already proven, or are capable of being proven. 

All knowledge of science has been derived from observation, or when 
revealed to man by higher intelligences than those of earth, is susceptible 
of proof by corroborative testimony. Why should Spiritualism — the 
science of sciences — be exempt from the same reasonable standards of 
demonstration ? It cannot be alleged that we have no means of observing 



304 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Spiritual facts, or obtaining corroborative testimony of Spiritual teachings. 
To deny this, is but the ruse of theological dogmatists. We have had 
in all ages of the past, and we have still more abundantly in the 
present, opportunities both for observing Spiritual facts and testing 
Spiritual revelations by corroborative proof; and it is because the Theoso- 
phist and his " band of brothers " would have us depart from these rational 
standards of judgment, and put unquestioning faith in what they say, no 
matter how far it may conflict with what you have observed, or what ten 
thousand Spirits have told you, that none should accept their statements 
without severely testing and proving the authority upon which they are 
based. There seems but little difference between " Believe, or go to eternal 
perdition," and "Believe, or go to eternal extinction." Such dogmatic 
threats have been the curse of the race, and mankind gains but little in 
changing the base of these utterances from an ecclesiastical hierarchy to a 
band of brothers, whose very existence is still to many minds a question of 
doubt. But it may be urged that belief with the ecclesiastic was enforced 
by torture and the stake, whilst with the Theosophist it is optional and free. 
To this we respond, that "Theosophy" and " Occultism," are terms of world- 
wide import, and when employed to endorse statements which aim at 
destroying the very corner-stones of proof concerning immortality and the 
conditions of the Hfe hereafter upon which millions of persons in the present 
generation base their faith, they cannot remain unchallenged. If they are 
true, Spiritualism is the mightiest and foulest delusion that has ever fallen 
upon the earth. Better that we should believe that those who have come 
to us, doing us good, watching over, and guarding us like angels, who have 
for years been our best friends, counsellors, and guides ; who have come 
with all the tokens of identity borne by our fathers, mothers, children, and 
best beloved, should turn out to be the "devils" of ^ecclesiastical teachings, 
than the " ghouls," " gheists," " empty shells," and loathsome reliquice. of 
dead bodies, as taught in Theosophical Occultism. Not to question such 
doctrines is to assume that there are no sane human beings to be led away 
by them. But when they come upon our own camp ground and affect to 
correct the fallacies into which we as Spiritualists have fallen, it not only 
becomes our right, but our duty to question them. And what is the result ? 

If we approach the mouthpieces of these invisible, and only elect, " adepts," 
to enquire about our own destiny, we are told, that at death, we are chopped 
up into seven parts, with a million chances to one against any one of the 
seven being rescued from annihilation. 

If we enquire for the fathers and mothers, husbands and children, that 
were dearer to us than life, we are told, that they have already melted out, 
or else, that their graveyard emanations have been very busy, striving to 
drag us down into mental corruption, and Spiritual ruin ! ! Are we to 
receive this, as the culmination of all the long-hidden wisdom of the 
Orient ? Or, supposing we venture to defer to such monstrous assevera- 
tions, question their authenticity, and ask for proof . 

One answers us, " The venerable chief of our Band of Brothers says so." 
Another, " The God within me affirms it." Still another, " Gautama 
Buddha says so," or " Very high intelligences have revealed this to mCc" 
If you humbly question, why " very high intelligences " cannot come to you, 
as well as to your Occultist informant, you have answers which strongly 
savour of that ancient pharisaism, which would say, if it dared, "Stand 
by; I am holier than thou." And if all these are not answers enough 
you are overwhelmed with the opinions of Hindoo, Egyptian, Aryan, and 




Cha? Foster and a Spirit 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 305 

Greek sages, whose opinions are worth about as much, without corroborative 
testimony to-day, as the opinions of any other men-, whether they Hved in 
the days of antiquity or in the nineteenth century. 

That which the Spiritualist asks is reasonable enough. He says : " Give 
me one shadow of proof to convince me, that the pure and holy spirit with 
whom I have been conversing is a ' shell,' ' a gheist, a reHqziia. of the 
dead,' and not my mother herself : give me proofs as strong as I can bring 
to show that it is my mother herself; that death has had no power over 
her, and that with all the difficulties under which the Spiritual telegraph 
works, there is not one shadow of evidence to doubt that it is my real 
veritable mother. Bring me proof for proof ; and testimony for testimony ; 
or set my facts against your theories, and see which will weigh the 
strongest ; especially when my facts are duplicated by the facts of millions 
of others and your theories have yet to produce one demonstrable fact to 
rest upon." The story of Elijah and the priests of Baal may be only an 
allegory, and one which either party might claim, were it not that Elijah 
gained his victory by virtue of a demonstrated fact, while the priests of 
Baal worshipped their ideal only. Time, the great touchstone of truth, sifts 
all that comes before his tribunal, but whether by the force of a deific will 
or because truth is the only imperishable element in existence, certain it is 
that all great truths redeem themselves, and only require time to shake off" 
the mists of error, and take their place as the fundamental principles upon 
which the Universe is builded. To this unerring touchstone the author 
can afford to commit the all of the present question. Meantime, at the 
risk of the threatened extinction with which grovelling minds are liable to 
be visited who cannot ascend to the airy heights of Theosophical utterances, 
the author counsels all readers of these passages, " to prove all things " — 
and then, but not till then, will they be in a position to " hold fast by that 
which is good." 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN INDIA (CONTINUED). 

Passing from the realm of controversial discussion concerning the condition 
of the soul hereafter, we proceed to consider the status of opinion on this 
subject indicated by the prevailing superstitions amongst some of the lower 
classes of India. 

It will be seen that whilst their ideas of spiritual existence partake largely 
of ancient superstitions, they still recognize the actuality of intercourse with 
deceased persons ; in fact, this acceptance of spiritual interposition in human 
affairs on the part of the souls of men, supersedes in many respects the 
common belief in Providential agency. The natives of India of low castes, 
worship the gods whom their Brahminical, Buddhistic, or Mahometan teachers 
instruct them of, but implicit faith in the direct action and influence of human 
spirits, especially those whose tendencies are mischievouSj is the paramount 
feature of belief. 

The villagers or dwellers in rural districts, are evidently more susceptible 
of being ruled by fear, than love. At certain periods they hold festivals in 




3o6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

honour of the Deities, and the good and true who have passed " into the 
paradises of the blessed," but they dwell chiefly on the deeds of evil doers 
whom they believe still preserve their former interest in humanity, and take 
every opportunity of renewing their earthly propensities to sin and wrong. 

They assume that the habitations of these spirits are near, and sometimes 
upon the earth ; that they haunt desolate places, scenes where great crimes 
have been committed, deep forests, and lonely dells._ They divide these 
weird beings into three principal grades, the first of which they call Bhutas. 
These are sometimes the spirits of celebrated personages, notorious male- 
factors, or even kings, provided they were tyrants, or led very wicked lives, 
but the last qualification is a sine qua non for the office of a Bhuta. They 
deem these ghosts capable of working -inimitable evil to those over whom 
they rule, and think the greatest aim of mortals should be to placate them 
by all the means they can devise. 

The second class are Pretas — supposed to be the spirits of children who 
have either been deformxcd, monstrous, or in some way imperfect in mind or 
body. These beings are represented as frightful, misshapen, and exceed- 
ingly mischievous; not unlike in fact, "the goblin page" of Walter Scott, 
or " CaUban" of the enchanted isle, so marvellously imaged forth in 
Shakespeare's "Tempest." 

The third class, called Fisacha, are supposed to be the spirits of 
maniacs, drunkards, idiots, or such as represent conditions of mental 
imbecility. 

All these, and others too numerous to particularise are often called by 
the generic name of " Bhuta;" all are deemed to be fearsome, more or less 
monstrous in appearance, and constantly disposed to work ill to man. 

It would scarcely be possible to believe that rational beings in the 
nineteenth century could associate such an array of frightful superstitions as 
these Hindoos indulge in, with the spirits of those who were once men and 
women like 'themselves. Such is the prevalent behef however, and in con- 
firmation of these statements, we shall give a few extracts from a work on 
" Devil Worship in Western India," by Judge Walhouse, F.R.A.S., an 
eminent writer, and one who long filled high office in Indian Courts of 
Judicature. 

Mr. Walhouse says, in part ist of his work above named : — 

" The edifices and observances connected with Bhuta worship are both domestic and 
public. In villages, and very generally in towns, there is in every house a wooden cot or 
cradle, placed on the ground, or suspended by ropes or chains, and dedicated to the Bhuta 
of the spot. On these are placed a bell, a knife, or sword, and a pot filled with water, all 
which are collectively called the Bhandara of the Bhuta, and kept either in a part of the 
house itself, or in a small separate building. The idea seems to be of placating the spirit 
that haunts the spot by making a sort of abode for it, much in the same way as the cream- 
bowl was nightly set for the " drudging goblin," or brownie, in England. On the last 
day of every lunar month flowers are laid on the cot, and perfume burnt before it ; and 
once a year, towards the end of April, a ceremony called Tambila is performed. First, a 
fire is lit on the spot where the cot and paraphernalia stand, to make it " shoodha," i.e., 
clean ; then fried rice, mixed with coarse sugar and grated cocoanut kernel, is heaped on 
two plantain leaves, which are placed on the cot, together with some young cocoanuts, 
pierced ready to drink from. A ball is then formed of boiled rice, coloured yellow with 
turmeric, and laid on a piece of plantain leaf on a small stool, which is placed before the 
cot, and a lighted torch stuck on it. A fowl is held above the rice-ball and torch, its 
throat cut, and the blood let drop upon the ball ; some perfume is burnt, and the cere- 
mony ends. The cocoanuts placed on the cot are then taken and dashed on the ground, 
or cloven in half. If the pieces fall with the kernel upward, it signifies the Bhuta is 
pleased with the oflfering ; if with the kernel downward, the reverse. Should a member 
of the family be stricken with any unusual attack, such as apoplexy, paralysis, cholera, &c., 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 307 

or should disease break out amongst the cattle, it is at once ascribed to the anger of the 
Bhuta, and a propitiatory sacrifice is offered. A fowl is turned three times round before 
the patient's face, its neck then twisted, and the blood let fall ixpon him, and some rubbed 
on his forehead and joints, the meaning being to offer life for life — the fowl in lieu of the 
man. Powdered sandal-wood is then sprinkled over the Bhuta's cot, and water from the 
pot kept there dashed upon the sick man's forehead and eyes. The family priest is then 
consulted, who, after much grave meditation, usually recommends alms to be given to 
himself to satisfy the hostile stars, with a promise to perform a special ceremony to the 
Bhuta, and give a banquet to all the patient's castemen should he recover. Medicine is 
not neglected, but, in event of recovery, the credit is ascribed to the influence of the 
Bhuta. 

" The general buildings dedicated to these demons are called Bhutastans, and when 
dedicated to one of the superior, or very popular Bhutas, sometimes of considerable size ; 
but far more commonly a small plain structure, four or five yards deep, by two or three wide, 
with a door at one end, covered by a portico supported on two pillars, with a thatched 
roof, and windowless. In front of it there are usually three or four T -shaped pillars, the 
use of which is not clear. They are said to denote that the building is a Bhutastan, and 
flowers are placed, and cocoanuts broken on them at ceremonies. It may be worth 
noticing that pillars of exactly the same shape are found accompanying the mysterious 
Balearic Talyots, the purpose of which has hitherto baffled antiquaries. Inside the 
Bhutastan there is usually a number of images roughly made in brass in human shape, or 
resembling animals, such as pigs, tigers, fowls, &c. These are brought out and worshipped 
as symbols of the Bhutas on various ceremonial occasions. The Bhutas themselves are 
usually represented by mere rough stones. Brass basins, bells, a peculiarly-shaped 
sword, and some other articles used at ablutions are also kept within. These rustic fanes 
are thickly scattered over the face of the country in very various situations — under a 
green tree, on hill-sides, down in hollows, in jungles, on plains, by road-sides, in villages, 
amid rice-fields, but always on a small plot of waste ground, which is kept uncultivated. 

" Once a year a festival called KoUa is held at the village Bhutastan, in honour of the 
local Bhuta, at which all the villagers attend. There is no fixed time for this, but the 
village priest, after consulting with the pi-incipal inhabitants, determines an auspicious 
day. This being settled, a tall pole is fixed upright in the ground before the Bhutastan, 
and a flag, that is always kept within, hoisted upon it. The Bhuta's Bhandara, or 
paraphernalia, and the images, &c., are brought out and cleaned, and a large fire kindled 
to purify the.spot. The festival always takes place at night, and about nine o'clock all the 
villagers assemble in their best attire, the women wearing all their ornaments, and thek 
heads, as well as often the men's, thickly garlanded with flowers. Tom-toms and drums 
are beaten, and the Pujari, or Priest, takes the Bhuta-sword and bell in his hands, and 
whirls round and round, imitating the supposed mein and gestures of the demon. But he 
does not aspire to full possession, which in aboriginal rites like these, is only given to a 
representative of the aboriginal tribes, now the lowest castes. A Dher, one of the slave 
caste, at other times regarded with contempt, but now advanced to the foremost post, 
comes forward naked, save a waist-band, and with all his head and body grotesquely and 
frightfully besmeared with white, yellow, and red paint. Over his head, and tied to his 
back, there is a sort of an arch, termed Ani, made of green-cocoa-tree leaves, with their 
ends radiating out. For some time he paces up and down, within a ring formed by the 
crowd, flinging about his arms, gesticulating wildly, leaping, and shaking his body 
furiously. Meanwhile a dozen or more tom-toms and drums are beaten incessantly and 
stunningly, with a continually increasing din ; and the Dher presently breaks into a 
maniac dance, capering, bounding, and spinning vehemently whilst the instruments 
redouble their noise, the power of the Bhuta being estimated by the fury and per- 
sistence with which the Dher dances. The multitude around joins in raising a long, 
monotonous, howling cry, with a peculiar vibration. At length the Dher stops, he is full 
of the demon, and stands fixed and rigid, with staring eyes. Presently he speaks, or 
rather the demon speaks from him, in loud, hoarse, commanding tones, wholly unlike his 
own, or indeed any natural voice. He addresses the head man of the village first, and 
then the p^ncipal inhabitants in due order, for any neglect of etiquette on this point by 
the Bhuta would infallibly give rise to great resentment. After thus speaking to the 
principal villagers and asking whether all the people are present, the possessed Dher goals 
on to say that the Bhuta is pleased with the performance of the ceremony, and exhorts all 
the people to behave justly and charitably to one another. Various disputes and litigated 
matters, especially when evidence and ordinary means of adjustment fail, are then brought 
forward and submitted to the decision of the Bhuta, and his award, pronounced through 
the Dhdr, is generally, though not always, submitted to. After this the demon desires to 
have food, and the Dh^r eats fried rice, and drinks the milk of young cocoa-nuts ; or if 
the demon he represents be one of low degree, he eats animal food and drinks arrack. He 



3o8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

then distributes areca flowers and pieces of cocoa-nut to all assembled in due order of 
precedence, and the Bhuta passes away from him, he loses his commandiag mien and 
tones, and relapses into the servile drudge. The assembly then addressee itself to 
festivity ; there is much drinking of arrack, the drumming and wild music go on 
vehemently, interminable songs are sung, and at the first dawn the people disperse on all 
sides to their homes." 

The Rev. Mr. Caldwell, who has written an extended account of his 
mission in Southern India and Siam, gives the following sketch of rites 
something similar to the above, enacted amongst the natives of Tinnevelly. 
He says : — 

" I have witnessed oracular responses given under the supposed control of a demon, 
after gesticulatory dances amongst the Todas of the Nilgiri HUls. In Siam spirit-dances 
are held in a shed built for the purpose, in which offerings are set out for the demon, 
who is invited by the usual wild music to come down to the dance ; but there is this 
peculiarity, that there the demon always enters a woman, which is scarcely ever heard of 
in India. She herself does not dance, but bathes and rubs herself with scent, dresses in 
a red waistcloth and dark silken jacket, and awaits the descent of the demon, who is 
incited to come by redoubled din of music and chanted incantations. ■V^^^en he comes 
she shakes and trembles, and then, assuming the airs and manners of a great personage, 
all present worship and pay her homage. Sometimes the spirit of one of their ancestors, 
sometimes a foreign demon, is supposed to have taken possesion of her body. She 
answers questions, and gives commands and directions in a haughty, imperative tone, 
and all her words are humbly Hstened to, and afterwards she prrtakes of the offerings 
provided for the demon. An old woman usually plays the part, and after the influence 
has left her, she declares she knows nothing of what took place, or what she may have 
said." 

Although the methods of inducing trance amongst the ignorant inhabi- 
tants of remote Eastern districts, and the cold unimpassioned dwellers of 
European cities, are widely different, it is not uninteresting to note the 
points of similarity which obtain in the trance, or during the period when 
the Mediums of both quarters of the globe are under the controlling 
influence of the Spirits, Change Mr. Caldwell's nomenclature of " the 
obsessing demon," for the more familiar phrase " the Spirit control," and 
we have no very marked difference between the above description, and 
that of an American or European trance Medium — save in the matter 
of costume, appearance, and general intelligence. Judge Walhouse's work 
on "Devil Worship," contains so many suggestions concerning disturbances 
and hauntings, quite familiar amongst more civilized peoples than the 
villagers of India, that it may not be uninteresting to follow up his 
descriptions in the subjoined extracts : — 

'' Besides numberless local Bhutas, there are some thirty especially feared in Canara, 
possessing temples and shrines in various parts of the province ; several are females. The 
most dreaded and malignant amongst them is Kalkatti, or the Stonecutter, reputed to be 
the spirit of Jackanachari, a famous stone-mason and architect, who, between four and 
five centuries ago, built most of the exquisitely beautiful Jaina temples that exist in 
Canara. Much legend has gathered about him, but he undoubtedly lived, and must have 
been a craftsman of marvellous skUl. The tradition runs that he and his wife, having 
quarrelled with their son respecting a temple then in process of building, they both com- 
mitted suicide, and became Bhutas so malign and feared, that none dare Etttempt an 
exorcism when their presence is suspected. The next most dreaded Bhuta is Panjurli, 
i.e., pig-rider, whose origin is forgotten, but is probably the perturbed spirit of some one 
once notorious. Quliga is regarded as an aboriginal or earth-born demon, and has power 
during certain minutes on certain days to pass through the air, and strike those he meets 
with a rod, thereby causing fits, paralysis, or even death. His glance also causes sick- 
ness, but the hours in which, in Shakspeare's sense, he can take or injure are limited. 
Chamundi, signifying mistress of death, is a female earth-spirit, and when the KoUa 
ceremony is offered to her, a large pile of wood is kindled, and after it has become a heap 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 309 

of glowing embers, the Dhdr who represents and is possessed by her, dances and rolls upon 
them for some minutes without injury. Munditaya is the ghost of a Balala or high caste- 
man, who died by some accident, and is reputed very troublesome ; sandal-wood powder 
and water, taken from the cot hung up to him, are however believed, when rubbed on, to 
cure snake-bites without further remedy. Most Bhutas haunt large trees, and it is of 
this last one, I think, that a story is told regarding a large, solitary Banian tree, near a 
village in the province. A demon was said to live in its branches, and none dare climb 
it. Some Mussulmans, however, laughed at the story, and one of them climbed up, but 
when he had got well up in the branches the goblin was suddenly revealed to him in a 
monstrous and frightful shape, on seeing which he screeched, let go his hold, fell to the 
ground, and remained raving with terror. for three days ; his back was injured by the 
fall, and he remained humpbacked, but lived to be ninety, and would often tell the 
story. The tree is now half dead, and limbs and branches often fall from it, but none 
will go near or pick them up." 



In the third part of his work Judge Walhouse says 



" The Dharmastal Temple, situated in a wild forest track in Canara, is one of the most 
famous in all that part of the peninsula, and is the abode of seven or eight very powerful 
Bhutas, who are so dreaded that none will assume their names. In civil suits, when the 
evidence is balanced or hopelessly contradictory, it is very usual for one of the parties to 
offer to decide it by taking an oath as to the justice of his contention before one of the 
Dharmastal deities ; this, when accepted and done with certain formalities, is always held 
satisfactory and decisive ; for the htigants know well that no one dare risk abiding the 
vengeance of those terrible Bhutas by a false adjuration. With respect to assuming their 
names, it may be explained that it is very common to name children after any Bhuta who 
may be very popular at the time, probably with the idea that the compliment might 
induce him to regard the child and family with favour. I remember that a good many 
years ago a notorious and greatly dreaded dacoit was hung in Trichinopoly, who after death 
became so fashionable a Bhuta that for some time half the children born were named after 
him. I may perhaps mention two or three out of the instances of the belief in Bhutas 
that came before me officially as judge. In a trial for murder before the Sessions Court, 
the prisoner was charged with having intentionally caused the death of his younger 
brother, whom he struck down as they were ploughing. In defence the prisoner stated, 
through his vakil, or pleader, that the deceased, whilst at work in the field, was struck by 
the eye of a Bhuta, of which he died ; and his witnesses deposed that they had known 
similar instances. In another murder case the evidence of a material witness was objected 
to because he was well known to be under the curse of a Bhuta, and in consequence a 
desperate man, whose statements could not be believed. Again, a Potel, or village head- 
man, was charged with having entered the death of a boy in his register as natural when 
he had really committed suicide ; in defence the Potel asserted that the boy had died from 
a blow by the village Bhuta, and named several instances. On being punished by the 
magistrate, he appealed to the Sessions Court, reasserting his plea, and desiring to call 
witnesses to prove it. These men were far from unintelligent, and the vakils, or native 
pleaders, acute and well able to conduct a legal argument. But we can hardly ridicule 
them much, when we reflect that within the last eighteen months a young farmer was 
sentenced to six months' imprisonment at Dorchester for savagely beating an old woman 
because she ' hag-rode ' him : another man in Somersetshire was charged for twice 
stabbing a woman who had ' over-looked ' him, that he might break the spell with her 
blood ; and there were four other convictions in Somersetshire and Devonshire alone, for 
assaults committed, or payment taken, on account of, or to cure, having been bewitched : 
and all the persons connected may presumably have been at school, and attended some 
church or chapel. 

" Very often Bhutas become a sort of house spirits, such as are heard of in many- 
popular mythologies, more or less mischievous, and delighting in Robin Goodfellow's 
pranks. Howlings and unearthly shrieks and noises that cannot be traced are attributed 
to them. Household utensils are thrown about, and stones flung by invisible hands, 
and pots and cooking vessels found filled with dirt. Women put away their best clothes 
carefully, and in the morning find them unaccountably on fire and smouldering away. 
All these are ascribed to the Bhuta, as well as what would now be called a kind of levita- 
tion, which is declared to be very frequent. Infants are missed from their cradles, and 
presently heard crying in the loft of the house, or on stacks of straw outside. Once 
riding through a village I found the people in great excitement at a prank played by a 
Bhuta two days before. A woman lying apart in her room expecting her confinement, 
was suddenly missed, and could nowhere be found, till some cliildren heard her voice 




3IO NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

proceeding from a dry well in a field hard by. She was drawn up with considerable 
trouble, quite unhurt, and safely confined the same day. She said she found herself all 
at once at _the bottom of the well, but could not in the least tell how she came there. 
The people insisted on showing me the well, which was about 100 yards from the house, 
large and square, one used for irrigation, but then dry, and from 20 to 25 feet deep. 
Roman Catholics are very numerous in Canara, but quite as subject to these demoniacal 
annoyances as the Hindus. One clerk of the civil court, a grave, elderly man, affirmed 
to me that, when passing at evening along a lane near a Bhutastan, he encountered a 
dark, monstrous, shadowy shape, which grew larger and larger, on which he uttered 
some religious verses, when it gradually diminished and disappeared. Another story was 
the talk of the town, and the parties , concerned assured me of its truth. Two high 
native officials, both Roman Catholics, were sitting at noonday in the verandah of the 
house of one of them, when ashes and earth came pouring in quantities from the roof. 
The master of the house exclaimed the Bhuta was repeating his tricks, and, bringing a 
gun, fired it in the air to frighten the goblin away, when instantly, as if in answer, 
a quantity of powder was exploded in the midst of the open yard before them, and 
immediately stones and pebbles were flung by invisible agency towards the house from 
without. These fell on the verandah, and then, my informant asseverated, went 
" leaping like frogs " into the house, to the great amusement of the children who had 
assembled, and who would cry out, " one more ! " when another stone would instantly 
fall and go hopping in ! This sort of Bhuta annoyance was declared to be not at all 
unfrequent. It is curious, anthropologically speaking, to observe how general this 
strange belief in a grotesque sort of goblin, rejoicing in a particular kind of odd, 
mischievous pranks, has been in widely separated countries and ages. In China such 
disturbances are common, and ascribed to ' kitchen gods ; ' in Arabia and Egypt to the 
jinee or genii, who, Mr. Lane says, are believed to throw stones a.nd fiirniture about in 
houses. He also relates that pious and and learned Muslims, on locking the doors of 
their houses, storerooms, and apartments when going out, habitually repeat, ' In the 
name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,' to secure their property during their 
absence from the mischief and depredations of the Jinn." 

We must now notice a phase of Spiritualism which seems to be even 
more special to Oriental nations than the hauntings above described ; this 
is the power acquired by some of those rehgious ascetics called " Fakirs," 
"Yogis," &c., &c. There are certain individuals styling themselves 
" Occultists," in contradistinction to the term " Spiritualists," who claim 
that the wonder-working powers exhibited by these Eastern magicians, are 
entirely under their own control and proceed from the results of initiation 
into divers human " Brotherhoods." 

The author of " Art Magic," who spent many years amongst rehgious 
ascetics in India, and was himself a proficient in their practices, insists, 
that the Yogis, Fakirs, and wonder workers of India are assisted by the 
spirits of ancestors, whom they call " Pitris," and whom they almost always 
claim to be instrumental in the production of their marvellous feats of 
magical power. M. Jacolliot, for many years a resident in India, makes 
the same allegation, and M. Le Hue, besides other writers of eminence 
on East Indian magic, confirms these statements. 

M. Jacolliot's articles on " Manifestations with the Fakirs of India," 
translated by Dr. Maximilian Perty, of Leipzig, will be found to contain a 
great deal of interesting matter on these subjects. 

In a series of papers written for the German Spiritual paper, Psychic 
Studien, M. Jacolliot speaks of a Fakir named Covindasamy with whom 
he became acquainted under special circumstances, and through whom he 
witnessed manifestations of power and marvel which almost surpass belief. 

Conversing with this wonderful personage on a certain occasion, M. 
Jacolliot said : " Dost thou know whether any force is developed in thee 
when these phenomena are produced, and dost thou never feel any peculiar 
sensation in brain or muscles ? " 

" It is no natural (or bodily) force which is at work," answered 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 311 

Covindasamy. *' / call on the souls of 77iy forefathers^ and it is they who use 
their power, and whose ifistrument I am." Dr. Perty says : " Various 
Fakirs whom JacoUiot had questioned on the same point gave nearly the 
same answers." 

Subjoined will be found one of the experiments recorded by Dr. Perty 
as occurring with this Fakir and M. JacoUiot : — 

'' JacoUiot had seen, with some of the fakirs, objects raised from the ground, and asked 
Covindasamy for this manifestation. The fakir took an iron wood stick, which JacoUiot 
had brought from Ceylon, rested his right hand upon the knob, cast down his eyes, and 
began his evocations, when gradually, still leaning one hand upon the stick, and with his 
legs crossed in oriental fashion, he rose about two feet from the ground, and remained 
immovable, in a position similar to that of the bronze Buddhas which tourists bring from 
the far East. JacoUiot could by no means comprehend how the fakir could remain over 
twenty minutes in a position entirely contravening the law of gravitation. When he took 
leave of JacoUiot that day, he informed him that at the moment when the sacred elephants 
in Siva's pagoda should strike the midnight hour on the copper saucers, he would caU on 
the familiar spirits of the Franguys (Frenchmen), who would then manifest their presence 
in JacoUiot's bedchamber. In order to secure himself against deception, JacoUiot sent 
both his servants to spend the night in the dingui, with the cercar (boatman) and other 
attendants. The palace of the Peishwa has windows on the Ganges side -only, and consists 
of seven stories, whose rooms open on to covered terraces and galleries. The stories com- 
municate with each other in a peculiar way ; from the ground floor a staircase leads to 
the first story, and at the further end of this is another flight of steps to the next above, 
and so on to the sixth, from which a movable flight, attached with chains like a draw- 
bridge, leads to the seventh story, which is furnished half in oriental, half" in European 
style, and is generally reserved for the foreign guests of the Peishwa. 

" After JacoUiot had carefully searched his rooms, and pulled up the drawbridge, all 
communication with the outer world was cut off. At the given hour he heard two distinct 
raps on the wall of his room, and as he went towards the spot, a rapping noise seemed to 
come from the glass bell that protected the hanging lamp from mosquitoes, then a noise 
in the cedar beams of the roof, and all was still. He then walked to the end of his 
terrace ; it was one of those silvery nights, unknown to our climates. The Ganges lay 
Uke a broad carpet at the foot of the sleeping city, and on one of its steps a dark figure 
was visible ; it was the fakir of Trivanderam, praying for the repose of the dead. 

" JacoUiot could not feel convinced that the theory of the Hindoos, that the pheno- 
mena which he had now so often witnessed were produced by the spirits of their ancestors, 
was in any sense proved ; but he was equally certain that no one in Hindostan understood 
by what means these enchanters operated ; he saw that the Hindoos do not separate 
material phenomena from rehgious belief. He said to the fakir, when he appeared the 
next evening, ' The sounds which you announced were reaUy to be heard ; the fakir is 
very skilful.' ' The fakir is nothing,' answered Covindasamy, quite calmly ; ' he says his 
mentrams, and the spirits hear him. It was the manes of thy French forefathers who 
visited thee.' ' Thou hast power also over foreign spirits ?' ' No one can command the 
spirits.' ' I mean, how can ^e souls of the Franguys hear the prayers of a Hindoo when 
they are not of thy caste ? ' There is no caste in tlie world beyond.' It was impossible, 
as at all other times, to shake Covindasamy 's conviction. 

" He took a little bamboo stool, without further ado, and seated himself with his legs 
crossed Moslem fashion, and his arms across his breast. The servant had lighted the 
terrace to the brightness of day, and presently JacoUiot saw, after the motionless fakir 
had apparently concentrated his will-power, the bamboo stool begin to glide along the 
ground, and in about ten minutes arrive at the end of the terrace, and then return back- 
wards to its former place. This happened three times, in accordance with JacoUiot's 
wish ; the fakir's legs being raised above the ground to the level of the seat of the stool. 
The heat was on this day unusually great, the cool evening breeze from the Himalayas 
not having yet set in, and the cook was working with all his bodily force, by means of 
a cocoanut fibre string, an enormous punkah, a sort of movable fan, which was fixed to 
an iron pole in the centre of the terrace. The fakir took hold of the string, placed both 
hands upon his forehead, and crouched beneath the punkah, which soon began to swing, 
without any movement on Covindasamy's part, first gently, then more and more rapidly, 
as when moved by a human hand. If the enchanter let the string go, the punkah moved 
more and more slowly, tUl at last it stood still. Covindasamy next chose one of three 
flower pots on the terrace, which were so heavy that a man's whole strength was necessary 
to lift one ; he laid the points of his fingers on its edge, causing a regular pendulum-like 



312 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



motion of the base, and at last the pot seemed to JacoUiot to rise off the ground, and to 
follow the will of the fakir in any direction, a phenomenon that JacoUiot had often seen 
in broad daylight." 

The easiest way for sceptics to dispose of these statements is, to deny 
their authenticity or their narrator's veracity in toto. As we are not pre- 
pared to deal in this summary way with the testimony of a respectable and 
learned witness, especially as his account — however incredible to those 
who have not familiarized themselves with the records of East Indian 
Spiritualism — is verified by nearly every writer who has examined the 
subject, we shall present another extract from Dr. Perty's translation of 
JacoUiot's Hindoo experiences. It is as follows : — 

" At ten o'clock on the evening of this day, Covindasamy came silently, as usual, into 
JacoUiot's room, having left behind him on the flight of steps his languty or small gar- 
ment which was his only clothing, and having fastened his seven-jointed bamboo-stick to 
one of his long plaits of hair. ' Nothing impure,' said he, ' must touch the body of the 
invoker, when he wishes to come effectually into communion with the spirits.' The 
thought struck JacoUiot at this moment whether the Gymnosophists of the Indus were 
not similar to Covindasamy. 

" The experiments were conducted that evening on the terrace and in JacoUiot's bed- 
room, both of which, communicating together, were effectually closed from vsdthout ; in 
each was a hanging lamp of cocoa-nut oil, enclosed in a glass globe. All Indian houses 
are provided with little copper vessels, always filled with glowing coal, in which at 
intervals it is customary to throw a fragrant powder of sandal- wood, orris root, myrrh, 
and incense. The fakir placed a similar vessel in the centre of the terrace, and beside it a 
copper plate covered with powder ; he then cowered down in his usual manner with crossed 
arms, and began a long incantation in an unknown language, repeated his mentrams, and 
remained immovable, with his left hand upon his heart, and the right leaning on his 
staff ; from time to time he raised his hand to his forehead, as if to clear his brain by 
passes. Suddenly JacoUiot trembled, for a faintly luminous cloud began to form in his 
chamber, from which hands rapidly came out in all directions, and returned to it again ; 
presently some of the hands lost their shadowy look, and appeared more human and 
material ; others became more luminous ; the first were opaque and cast shadows, the 
others so transparent that objects could be seen through them ; altogether JacoUiot 
counted sixteen. JacolUot asked whether it would be possible to touch one of the hands ; 
scarcely had he done so, when one left the group, floated towards him, and pressed his 
ofiered hand ; it was small, moist and supple, and like the hand of a young woman. 
' The spirit is there, although only one of its hands is visible,' said Covindasamy ; 'thou 
canst converse with it if thou wUt.' JacoUiot asked playfully if the spirit, to whom this 
charming hand belonged, would leave him a souvenir ; thereupon he felt the hand melt 
away from his, saw it float to a bouquet of flowers and break off a rosebud, which it threw 
at his feet ; it then vanished. For two whole hours things occurred enough to bewUder 
the strongest mind ; hands stroked JacoUiot's face, or fanned him with a fan, showered 
flowers all over the room, or wrote fiery letters in the air, which disappeared as soon as 
the last was made ; and flashes as of lightning passed along the terrace and through the 
chamber. Two of the Sanscrit phrases, which JacolUot had written first with a pencil, 
had this meaning — / have taken on a fluidic hody ; and thereupon the hand wrote — thou 
wilt attain happiness, when thou art freed from this perishable body. By degrees the hands 
vanished, the mass of cloud in which they seemed to have been materiaUzed was partially 
dissipated ; and in the place where the last hand had faded away, they found a wreath of 
those strongly scented yellow immortelles, which the Hindoos use in their ceremonies. 

" A moment afterwards, whilst the faku- was stUl earnestly engaged in invocation, a 
darker cloud formed near the pan of coals, which JacoUiot, at the fakir's wish, had kept 
replenished ; gradually this cloud took a human form, and appeared as the phantom of 
an old Brahmin, kneeling and offering sacrifice. He had the sacred sign of Vishnu on his 
forehead, and the threefold cord of the priestly caste round his body ; his hands were 
joined above his head, and his lips moved as if in prayer. At a particular moment he 
took a pinch of the sweet-smelling powder and threw it into the glowing coal, at which a 
thick smoke filled the air ; when it had dispersed, JacoUiot saw the phantom at two 
steps from him, holding out its withered hand ; JacoUiot took it in his own, and found it 
warm and living, though hard and bony. ' Art thou also,' he said aloud, ' a former 
inhabitant of this earth?" The question was scarcely put when he saw in phosphoric 
light on the phantom's breast the word Am (Yes) come and go. And when JacoUiot 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 313 

asked him, ' Wilt thou give me a tokeu of thy passing visit V the spirit tore off his girdle, 
made of a triple woollen twist, and vanished where he stood. 

" Jacolliot thought the sitting was ended, but the fakir appeared to have no thought 
of leaving his place. Suddenly a strange melody was heard, which seemed to proceed 
from the harmonica previously used, but which the Peishwa had had taken away the 
evening before, and which was no longer in Jacolliot's apartments. The tones at first 
sounded as if at a distance, afterwards nearer, and lastly, as if in the bedroom ; but pre- 
sently Jacolliot perceived the shadow of a pagoda player glide along the wall, holding a 
harmonica, from which were proceeding the monotonous, plaintive tones peculiar to the 
religious music of the Hindoos. 

" The phantom glided through the room and along the terrace, and vanished, leaving 
behind him the instrument, which was in fact the harmonica belonging to the rajah, and 
yet the doors were effectually closed. Covindasamy now stood up, bathed in perspira- 
tion, exhausted in the last degree. In a few hours he was to begin his journey. " I 
thank thee, Malabarer," said Jacolliot, addressing him in the name of his beloved country, 
" and may He who unites the three mysterious powers in his own person (the Brahminical 
Trinity) protect thee in thy journey to the lovely southern land, and mayst thou find 
that peace and happiness have dwelt in thy home during thine absence ! " The fakir 
replied with still more emphatic words, took the offered present without looking at it, or 
returning thanks, paid his last melancholy greetings, and disappeared as silently as was 
his wont. When Jacolliot looked out on the river in the early morning he saw a black 
spot, and by means of the telescope discovered it to be the fakir who was crossing the 
Ganges on his way to Trivanderam, to the blue sea, the cocoa palms, and his own hut, of 
which he had so often spoken. After a few hours' sleep in his hammock, the past night 
appeared to him as a dream and a hallucination, but the harmonica was still there, the 
flowers still strewed the terrace, the wreath of immortelles lay vipon the divan, and the 
words he had seen in the writing of flame were written, as at first, upon the slate. 
Jacolliot could discover as little deception as the Abb^ Hue had been able to do in Thibet." 

As a corollary to the various accounts which flood the columns of 
the Spiritual papers of '''fonn materialization " obtained only in cabinets, 
dark seances, or under conditions which place the sitter wholly at the mercy 
of all and sundry who choose to practise on his credulity, the description 
of the above seance, and the conditions under which the phenomena 
occurred, may prove as suggestive as marvellous. 

The different degrees of initiation through which the religious ascetics of 
India pass, to attain to the highest conditions of spiritual power, have too 
often been described by modern travellers, and are to be found too gener- 
ally scattered through the* pages of popular literature, to need reiteration 
here; suffice it to say, the wonder workers of India, despite the halo of 
extreme sanctity which is traditionally thrown around them, are by no 
means the beau ideal of sublimity and exaltation that they appear in the 
light of poetical or fervid imagery. Even those who do not attempt to 
work upon public sentiment by converting themselves into monsters of 
deformity, are for the most part, lean, emaciated, and unearthly-looking 
beings ; repulsive in aspect, and so utterly abstracted from the objects of 
sense, that they move amongst their fellow-men, more Hke phantoms, or 
creatures whose only concern with earth is to linger upon its surface as a 
penance for deeds done in some former state of existence, than mortals 
having concern with mortal affairs. There are others, and these form the 
principal sum of the wonder-working devotees, of whom Major Colebrooke, 
a long resident in India, and one who has written extensively on its modern 
aspects, says : — 

"The Fakirs are ignorant, insolent, and loathsome. The Yogis, who are supposed 
to give themselves up to meditation, are merely ignorant and superstitious men. There 
may be, there probably are, exceptions, but from a religion whose high morality and 
spirituality is lost and buried under a mass of degrading superstitions, what holiness can 
be expected ? A man who thinks, or is supposed to think, incessantly of one subject, 
even the highest, only stultifies himself, he cannot evolve out of his own nature anything 



314 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

which that nature does not contain. The proof is in the result. The Yogees or 
Suniassis, do nothing to make the people better. They receive gifts, and strengthen the 
dark superstitions which prevent India from rising." 

Of modern Spiritualism, as represented by the Mediums of Europe, 
there is but little to report except in a few special places. Private circles 
have been successfully established amongst some of the white residents of 
British India, and one at least eminent Medium has visited the country, 
in the person of Mr. Eglinton, from London. Of this gentleman's powers 
as a Medium mention has already been made in connection with his 
visit to South Africa. During a brief residence amongst Spiritual friends 
in Calcutta, Mr. Eglinton made many converts, and was honoured by 
various eulogistic notices of his Mediumship in the public journals. The 
two following excerpts will suffice as an example of these notices. The 
first is taken from the Indiafi Daily News, and reads as follows : — 

" At Calcutta, Mr. Eglinton's seances are attended by the most intelligent classes, and 
manifestations occur that perfectly astound spectators. On one occasion two 'materialized 
spirits ' appeared in the light— one of a Hindu lady, and the other a Hindu gentleman, 
father and mother respectively of two of the sitters. The Indian Mirror of December 
I7th, says : — 

" ' One of the sitters was requested to write the name of a departed relative. The 
name was not shown to Mr. Eglinton, nor did he know it, or was likely to know it. The 
bit of paper on which the name was written was then folded up and handed over to Mr. 
Eglinton, who, as soon as he received it in its folded state, burnt it in the flame of the 
lamp before which he sat. It was immediately reduced to ashes, and Mr. Eglinton then 
rubbed the ashes over one of his arms, which was laid bare and found to be quite clear, 
s.ndi free from any loriting at all. But scarcely had Mr. Eglinton rubbed the ashes over 
his arm, when the name of the departed relative of the sitter appeared in a minute 
or so in distinctly legible characters over the very arm, spelt similarly as on the bit of 
paper itself. But the most striking thing was this. When the materialized spirits 
had disappeared, a distinct sound of writing was heard in the dark for two or three 
seconds and immediately, when a light was brought, a card was found stuck up on the 
edge of a book, near a certain distinguished sitter, and the following Sanskrit text 
appeared on it in pencil, in pure and excellent Bengali handwriting, with the initials 
in English of one "P" — " Tapasha Braham hijigya s'U7?i&o," which, when rendered into 
English, runs as follows : "By devotion and knowledge of God a person is united with 
Him, i.e., he attains salvation." ' " 

For the second extract we are indebted to the Harbinger of Light, 
Melbourne. It is headed — 

"another conjuror nonplussed. 

" Many of our readers will remember ' Kellar,' the illusionist, who performed very 
cleverly the ' Cabinet Trick ' and a number of other imitations of spiritual phenomena 
at St. George's Hall, a few years since. The following letter, extracted from the Indian 
Daily News of January 26th, contains Mr. KeUar's admission of the distinctive nature of 
spiritual phenomena. 

'Mr. Kellar and the Spirits. 
' To the Editor of the Indian Daily News, 

' Sir, — In your issue of the 13th January, I stated that I should be glad of an 
opportunity of participating in a seance with a view of giving an unbiased opinion as to 
whether, in my capacity of a professional prestidigiteur, I could give a natural explana- 
tion of effects said to be produced by spiritual aid. 

' I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Eglinton, the spiritualistic medium now in 
Calcutta, and of his host, Mr. J. Meugens, for affording me the opportunity I craved. 

' It is needless to say I went as a sceptic, but I must own that I haVe come away 
utterly unable to explain, by any natural means, the phenomena that I witnessed on 
Tuesday evening. I will give a brief description of what took place : — 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES.' 315 

I was seated in a brilliantly lighted room with Mr. Eglinton and Mr. Meugens ; 
we took our places round a common teak-wood table, and after a few minutes the table 
began to sway violently backwards and forwards, and I heard noises such as might be 
produced by some one thumping under the table. I tried to discover the cause of this 
movement but was unable to do so. After this, Mr. Eglinton produced two common 
slates, which I sponged, cleaned, and rubbed dry with a towel myself. Mr. Eglinton 
then handed me a bos containing small crumbs of slate pencil ; I selected one of these, 
and in accordance with Mr. Eghnton's directions, placed it on the surface of one of the 
slates, placing the other slate over it. I then firmly grasped the two slates at one of the 
corners ; Mr. Eglinton held the other corner, our two free hands being clasped together. 
The slates were then lowered below the edge of the table, but remained in full view (the 
room remaining lighted all the time) ; instantaneously I heard a scratching noise, as might 
be produced by writing on a slate. In about fifteen seconds I heard three distinct 
knocks, on the slate, and I then opened them and found the following writing : — 

' " My name is Geary. Don't you remember me ? we used to talk of this matter at 
the St. Qeorge's. I know better now." 

' Having read the above, I remarked that I knew no one by the name of Geary. 

' We then placed our hands on the table, and Mr. Eglinton commenced repeating the 
alphabet until he came to the letter G, when the table began to shake violently. This 
process was repeated till the name of Geary was spelt. 

' After this, Mr. Eglinton took a piece of paper and a pencil, and with a convulsive 
movement difficult to describe, he wrote very indistinctly the following words : — 

' " I am Alfred Geary, of the Lantern ; you know me and St. Ledger.' 

' Having read this, I suddenly remembered having met both Mr. Geary and Mr. St. 
Ledger at Cape Town, South Africa, about four years ago, and the St. George's Hotel is 
the one I lived at there. Mr. Geary was the editor of the Oape Lantern. I believe he 
died some thi-ee years ago. Mr. St. Ledger was the editor of the Cape Times, and I believe 
is so still. Without going into details, I may mention that subsequently a number of 
other messages were written on the slates, which I was allowed to clean each time before 
they vt'ere used. 

' In respect to the above manifestations I can only say I do not expect my account of 
them to gain general credence. Forty-eight hours before I should not have believed any 
one who had described such manifestations under similar circumstances. I still remain a 
sceptic as regards Spiritualism, but I repeat my inability to explain or account for what 
must have been an intelligent force that produced the writing on that slate, which, if my 
senses are to be relied on, was in no way the result of trickery or sleight of hand. — 
Yours, &c., 

' Calcutta, January 25th, 1882." ' Hajbry Kkllar.'" 

The above letter needs no comment to the intehigent Spiritualist. Any 
other readers may dispose of its contents after their own fashion. 

Of religious movements it would be almost impossible to give even a list, 
so numerous are the cases of enthusiasm, or — as must be admitted in some 
instances — imposture which lead to the formation of new sects. One of 
the latest, in which the founder claims to act under Spiritual guidlance and 
inspiration is that headed by the well-known leader of the Bramoh Somaj, 
Keshub Chunder Sen. This noteworthy personage, although most highly 
lauded by some and regarded by his immediate followers as something litde 
less than an Avatar, but still far beyond the ordinary grade of poor 
mortality, is nevertheless equally unpopular in other directions, and Jay many 
writers is denounced as an audacious impostor. 

In a wild rambling discourse given recently to about 1,200 persons in 
the Town Hall of Calcutta, Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen took for his 
text the self-propounded question, " Am I an inspired prophet ?" Although 
a full report of his own answer to his own question is in print and before 
the world, no reader seems yet able to determine whether that answer was 
given in the negative or affirmative. The speaker represented himself as 
being in direct communication with John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul, 
whose spirits he alleged he had met and conversed with, and from whom 
he received his commission to lead mankind into the truths of the rehgion 
he professes to teach. In some respects this is broad and unsectarian, but 



3i6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

in others, the introduction of his own veiled Messiahship, and the strange 
commixture of old Aryan philosophy, with modern superstition, is curious 
and perplexing. 

The New York Sun gives the following notice of the Hindoo Prophet 
and his self-appointed mission : — 

" Kesub Chunder Sen, a high caste Bi-ahminwho for some time has been a rising light 
in India, has cast aside appearances and become a founder of a new sect. Possibly no 
man exerts so wide an influence religiously in India to-day as this Hindoo reformer. He 
was formerly at the head of the Bramoh Somaj, but has progressed — at least so he thinks, 
beyond them. If to converse with spirits makes a man a Spiritualist, then Chunder Sen 
is a Spirituahst, for he avows in the most positive manner that Jesus, John the Baptist, 
and Paul have appeared to and conversed with him. He is considered by his admirers 
not only as a great reformer, but a prophet sent of God. He has long and earnestly 
protested against the superstition of his own country, and at times the hearts of mis- 
sionaries were gladdened by his praise of their works, and his seeming acceptance of the 
doctrines of Christ. To establish Christianity, however, was not his object. He claims 
to be a re-incarnation of the divine Bhakti, under the name of Chaitauya, and that he is 
commissioned to establish the church of the future. He is the Prophet Nadiya ; an 
organization has been completed at Calcutta ; and the apostles, ' a preaching army,' have 
been sent forth on their mission to convert the world. This army moves from place to 
place with banners flying and music, and so great is the enthusiasm that devotees roll 
themselves in the dust before it. 

" The object of the new prophet is to deliver his country from dry rationalism and 
supply a living faith. "Whatever the results may be, the movement is of deep interest to 
the student of religious history, as an illustration of the rise and progress of sects. Kesub 
Chunder Sen, with his pretence of being a re-incarnation, in the light of the present, is a 
sham and a farce ; removed two thousand years into the past, and a few wonder works, 
wotild have made good his pretence, and untold millions would have received him as God." 

A Still more detailed description of the Prophet was recently published 
in the Cindmiati Commercial oi July, 1880, by Moncure D. Conway, from 
which the following extracts may serve to give a graphic idea of the Prophet 
and his pretensions. Mr. Conway says : — 

"It would be worth while for a student of psychology, or of abnormal religious 
excitements, to visit India just now. The minister of the Brahmos, Keshub Chunder 
Sen, seems to have had his head somewhat turned by — or at any rate since — his visit to 
England, and the marriage of his daughter to a prince. He has built a splendid house in 
Calcutta, and atones for that worldliness by ascetic mortifications." 

" He has announced that he is a special agent of Providence ; he is not an incarnation 
of any deity ; he is not a prophet ; but he is something different from other men. His 
recent course and preaching have been fruitful of discord and agitations. The more 
educated of his followers, who have favoured the Brahmo movement as at once a protest 
against idolatry and a refined theism, have become disgusted and left the church. A 
large number of the lower-class converts have been offended by the marriage of his 
daughter with a prince, and they have abandoned him. And this parting with the 
elements of rational restraint and coolness on the one hand, and of humility on the other, 
appears to have been the means of revolutionizing a movement to which some had looked 
for great and beneficial changes in India." 

" Keshub Chunder Sen and his followers seem to have taken hints from the revivalists 
of the West, and formed something like a ' Salvation Army.' They are replacing their 
lost adherents with fanatics gathered in the highways and byways, the survivals of extinct 
excitement, and adopting their wild manners and customs, their pilgrimages, shrieks, 
dances, and superstitions, they are calling the grand totality a ' new dispensation.' But 
from the mass of evidence before me I should say their star of Bethlehem has a chance 
of guiding them to Bedlam, or the places in India corresponding thereto. Sen himself 
has got so far in that direction as accepting a sort of worship from disciples kneeling 
around him (on the ground that he did not wish to stop the flow of bhatki — that is, 
devotion or enthusiasm), and holding personal interviews with Jesus, Paul, and John. 
One consequence of this outbreak of fanaticism is the loss of many of the educated ; but 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 317 

it has secured the results which manifest to Sen a ' new dispensation.' That is, he has 
raised public curiosity ; thousands go to hear him, and by using Christian phrases in his 
own sense he has roused the missionaries and made a sensation. They are denouncing 
him on one side, while the educated theists denounce him on the other ; and the result 
is that on a recent occasion as many as five thousand people went to hear him. The 
discourses he now delivers are quite valueless for any moral or religious teaching ; they 
are merely frantic ejaculations about God and the prophets, among which Jewish, 
Christian, and pagan are found oddly mixed." 

" The last phase upon which this now wild movement has entered appear to be the 
dance and the pilgrimage. They lately organised a pilgrimage to ' Sinai.' On the 22nd 
of February they all bathed, put on clean clothes, and followed the minister up into the 
• sanctuary ; ' here, if one is to believe reports, they passed eight days and nights, and 
communed with Moses, reading over the Pentateuch and spiritualising each verse : so 
that on the last day Moses is said to have spoken to them in some mysterious way ; 
whether he spoke from a burning bush, or whether he materialized personally, cannot be 
gathered from the mystical narratives of the pilgrims. 

" The revelation made by Moses included a transcription of the Ten Commandments, 
and a proclamation to the modern Israel, in which he stated that Jehovah's voice was 
his only guide, his only book of wisdom, the only Scripture of salvation ; and promised 
that ' the Almighty shall lead Bengal out of the bondage of superstition and idolatry 
into a city overflowing with milk and honey of purity and joy.' " 

Amongst the recent literary productions which bear testimony to the 
spread of the Spiritual faith in India, no writings are more highly esteemed 
than those of Peary Chand Mittra. 

Besides a number of excellent magazine articles contributed by this 
gentleman to the different Spiritual periodicals of England and America, 
Mr. Mittra has written an interesting brochure entitled " Spiritual Stray 
Leaves," and a still more profound work on " The Soul ; its nature and 
development." In the appendix to this publication, there is an announce- 
ment of a society recently formed in Calcutta for the study of Spiritual 
subjects. The author speaks in hopeful terms of the Spiritual outlook 
in that city, and predicates a grand harvest for "the cause" when the 
chaotic elements that beset it are sifted away, and Spiritualism can command 
true Spiritualists for its votaries. 

Another talented native Spiritualist is Shibchunder Deb, a gentleman 
who has contributed to the stock of Spiritual literature an excellent 
compilation from the works of the best American authors. Amongst other 
undertakings of this character, Shibchunder Deb has translated the ten 
Spiritual Commandments, given by the Spirits through the Mediumship 
of Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten at one of her London lectures, into the 
Bengalese dialect. These commandments, hung up in hundreds of houses 
as Spiritual texts in England and America, are now circulated in India as 
a valuable missionary tract. 

Besides these signs of growing interest in the unfoldment of Spiritual 
doctrines, Mr. Mittra, in a letter to the editor of the London Medium 
and Daybreak of February, 1881, gives the following items, concerning the 
present status of Spiritualism in Calcutta. He says : — 

" I have found that any one praying and sitting quietly with slate or paper and pencil 
in hand, and thinking of the departed friend, is gradually developed as a medium. He 
must not will to move his hand, but it will be moved by the controlling spirit. At first 
dots and strokes will be formed and replies to questions given. Sometimes instructions 
will be given. In my family there are several writing mediums. After prayer we have 
had sometimes writing on the slate, from the spirit of one of my sons, which was of a 
very soothing nature, and the instruction of my son, who was a Brahmo, was to dedicate 
ourselves to God, as there was no other means to elevate ourselves or to enjoy true 
feUcity. 

" The rapid sale of my ' Spiritual Stray Leaves ' is a convincing proof of the growing 
appreciation of Spiritualism in India. Efl"orts are being made by certain friends interested 



3i8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

in Spiritualism to get a practised raediura from England, which -will take time. An 
European brother Spiritualist (who will be happy to give 'further particulars of other 
experiences to any earnest investigator), sent a letter to the under-mentioned medium 
•under seal to the address of the spirit of his mother. This letter was not opened. It 
has come back with a reply to every question from the spirit of the lady who died five and 
thirty years ago, and the reply bears internal evidence of her identity. 

" Another friend has sent a letter to Mr. Mansfield to the address of his father's spirit. 
We are waiting for the reply. The European brother Spiritualist above referred to is 
Mr. J. Gr. Meugens, Member of Messrs. W. Moran and Co., of this city, whose letter 
published since in the Banner of Light of the 22nd ultimo is reproduced : — 

" ' I wish to bear testimony to the mediumship of Mr. J. V. Mansfield, of New York. 
Mr. Mansfield is an absolute stranger to me, and all I know of him was from what I had 
seen reported in your paper. I wrote a letter to my mother, who has been in spirit-life 
over thirty years, asldng her a number of questions that only my mother could answer ; 
and this letter I put in a thick envelope, which I carefully gummed, and sealed, and 
addressed : " To my Mother." I enclosed it in a note to Mr. Mansfield, simply asking 
him to let me have a reply if he could get one. Last mail brought me a communication 
from the doctor, returning my letter addressed to my mother, with the seal unbroken, and 
in precisely the same condition that I sent it, together with a long reply purporting to 
come from my mother, addressing me by my Christian name, which Mr. Mansfield could 
have no means of knowing, and which is a very uncommon one, and answering every one 
of the questions put to her. I have met with a good many tests during my investigations 
when in England, but I do not know of any more convincing than this. 

'"I wish we had a good medium of Mr. Mansfield's stamp out here, for in that case 
possibly we might manage to excite a little intelligent interest in this grand philosophy, 
for it is lamentable to witness the utter ignorance and apathy displayed towards the 
subject in this part of the world. 

" ' J. H. Meugens. 

" '3, Church Lane, Calcutta, March 24th, 1880.' 

" My friend. Baboo Poorna Chunder Mokerjea, Solicitor of the High Court, has 
received from the spirit of his brother a reply to his letter sent to Mr. Mansfield. The 
letter was not opened. The reply is satisfactory. Other friends are about to place them- 
selves in communication with Mr. " " 



Mr. Meugens adds a list of Mediums and works on Spiritualism, after 
which he thus concludes : — 

" There are a great many metaphysical, theological works, and works on Buddhism and 
on the ancient literature of India, which are well worth reading. They are to be found in 
the Calcutta Public Library." 

Now and then a new sensation such as a public debate, and, not unfre- 
quently, the unjust and illiberal action of some interested antagonist, stirs 
the sluggish waters of mentality when they are disposed to settle in India, 
as in other great centres of modern thought and civilization. An example 
of this kind was afforded by the attack of the notorious Reverend Joseph 
Cook, of Boston, mentioned in an earlier chapter of this work, and renowned 
for his furious onslaught upon the Spiritualists, after having committed him- 
self by parading forth to Boston audiences, the inexplicable marvels 
wrought through Slade's and Watkin's mediumship. 

Mr. Cook has followed up this raid on every possible occasion, deter- 
mining, as he himself announced in the attack above referred to, " to put 
himself right on the subject of Spiritualism." How he succeeded in this 
attempt during a recent visit to India, where, in his diatribes against 
Spiritualism he took pains to insult some of the most respectable and influ- 
ential of his listeners, may be gathered from the following letter, published 
in several European journals : — 

" Joseph Cook has been in India. There, as at home, he created considerable commo- 
tion. He seems to be so organized that whenever he presents himself, agitation of 
thought follows, and great good is accomplished thereby, for the friction caused, exposes the 




A Hindoo Fakir 

WORKING MAGIC SPELLS 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 319 

errors of the reverend gentleman, and aids at the same time in bringing to the front 
liberal thoughts, which otherwise might have remained obscured. The following letter 
alludes to some of his doings in India : — 

" ' To the Editor of the Eeligio-Philosophical Journal. 

" ' If you will kindly refer to the supplement to the current month's number of the Theo- 
sophist, you will find therein some account of Mr. Cook's visit to Bombay. You will also learn 
how he ran down our society and the founders, and how he denounced Spiritualism. There 
will also be found the challenge issued by us to him, and an account of his backing out. The 
meeting referred to in the challenge, was held here on the 20th ultimo. After addressing 
the meeting and convincing the audience about our society and ourselves, Col. Olcott 
defended Spiritualism. A pamphlet containing a report of the meeting is being printed. 
As soon as it is published, it will be sent you. In the meantime, Col. Olcott found in 
the ' Scientific Basis of SpirituaUsm,' a published testimony signed, amongst others, by 
Mr. Joseph Cook, vouching for cei'tain phenomena ' not explicable by any theory of 
fraud.' It was arranged to have it sent immediately to the Bombay Gazette, an influential 
daily Anglo-Indian journal here. z^-- 

"' Bombay, India. Damodar K. Mavalankar. " 

The editor of Izghf introduces a notice of Colonel Olcott's pamphlets 
with the following remarks : — 

" Colonel Olcott sends two pamphlets from Bombay. One gives ' The whole truth 
about the Theosophical Society, and its Founders.' It is the outcome of some slanders 
put about by the Rev. Joseph Cook, of Boston. A specimen of these is the statement 
that Colonel Olcott and Madam Blavatsky had ' come to India to study the ancient 
system of magic and sorcery to return to the United States to teach tricks to mediums 
already exposed ! ' Mr. Cook is one of the worst products of that offensive alliance 
between sensationalism and a pseudo-scientific theology which a craving for novelty on 
the part of audiences and for notoriety at any price on the part of a few professors of the 
flatulent style of oratory has produced. He seems, however, to have been thoroughly 
driven out of the field, smitten hip and thigh from Dan even iinto Beersheba — from 
Bombay to Poena. Poor man ! he gave the Society the largest gratuitous advertisement 
in his power ; and it is open to a casuist to contend that he ought to have had a vote of 
thanks, instead of being 'posted as a coward and a slanderer.' " 

Regretting that so much space has been necessarily devoted to so un- 
worthy a subject as Mr. Joseph Cook's doings, we are happy in bidding 
him farewell, and now close our summary of the present status of 
Spiritualism in India with the following expressive lines from "Art 
Magic : " — 

" Spiritism ever has, and ever will find its most fertile soil in the magical East ; that 
land of Prophets, Saviours, Avatars, and Oriental Mystics ! That land where matter 
bends and sways in the grasp of mind as a pigmy writhes in the clutch of a giant ; a land 
where magic shoots up in every plant ; gleams forth in many coloured fires from lustrous 
gems and glittering minerals ; where the stars tell their tale of eternity undimmed by the 
thick vaporous airs of equatorial skies, and the sun and moon imprint their magical 
meanings and solemn glories in beams, the radiance of which goes direct to the inner 
consciousness of awe struck worshippers. 

'• Let the magic of the Orient combine with the magnetic spontaniety of Western 
Spiritism, and we may have a religion whose foundations laid in science, and stretching 
away to tlae heavens in inspiration, will revolutionize the opinions of ages, and establish on 
earth the reign of the true Spiritual kingdom." 



NINETEENTH CENTURA MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

R]&SUM]E OV SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 

Although the modern works which contain descriptions of Oriental magic 
are too numerous to catalogue, it is still essential to the completion of this 
compendium to give a brief resume of the magical (i.e., the Spiritual) 
practices now prevailing throughout some of the most generally known 
districts of the Orient. 

The methods of inducing the state in which feats of super-mundane 
power can be accomplished, have already been shown to be dependent in 
part upon processes of culture which the subject himself can put in practice. 
The results thus achieved might with propriety be termed " magic," and it 
is questionable whether the entire of the marvels exhibited in ancient 
times under this formidable name, might not be resolved into arts in which 
psychology and magnetism were the principal factors. 

The antithesis to the condition attained by the Eastern yogi, or ecstatic, 
through processes of self-culture, is that of the modern Spirit Medium, 
whose powers are alleged to require no culture, no self-induced states 
of preparation, nothing in short but utter passivity, and dependence 
upon a Spiritual controlling influence. Whether — as suggested in the last 
chapter — the clue to a true Spiritual science may not yet be found in a 
judicious combination of both methods, will soon be the question of the 
age, and on the answer it receives from capable psychologists, will the 
future status of SpirituaUsm depend. 

Amidst the vague and unproved theories of the day, it is often alleged 
that the passive •' Medium" holds himself in subjection only to beings, who 
in reaUty have no being; "shells," '■'■ reliqiiice of the dead," the cast-off 
garment composed of some imponderable element the Spirit has worn, but 
which is now represented as being a mere "ghoul;" at once intelligent 
and powerful enough to deceive and work all sorts of evil, but yet having 
no distinct intelligence for anything good; a something and a nothing, 
which will presently fade out and become extinct. In connection with a 
theory so astonishing to the millions of Spiritualists who have fondly beheved 
they were holding communion with precisely the same individualized men 
and women they had known on earth, and from whom moreover they 
persist in affirming they have received untold good, and very little evil, 
comes another theory, to the effect, that all that the Spirituahsts attribute 
to the agency of their " Spirit friends," together with feats of a still more 
marvellous character, can be produced by the direct action of the spirit 
within man, that is, provided that Spirit be still embodied, its disembodied 
state being subject to a series of mysterious subdivisions, the only portion 
which can be known to man, being the malicious, evil disposed, and 
evanescent " reliquicB," aforesaid. Of course it will be understood that 
assertions of so extraordinary a character as these, cannot be accepted upon 
assertion only, and as the proof of their truth or falsity has yet to be shown, 
the experienced Spiritualists' faith in the human attributes of his Spirit 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 321 

communicants, remains unshaken. Meantime, and pending the produc- 
tion oi proof, of more weight and worth than individual assertion, it is 
necessary to remind the reader, that up to this point, even the mere 
compendium of the world's latest Spiritual experiences which we have been 
able to offer in this volume, bears witness to the universal belief of mankind 
in the strict humanity of the Spirits that communicate with earth, and their 
agency for great good, as well as for great evil. Of course it must be 
apparent that there is a wide line of demarcation between the simply 
passive Medium who makes no effort to cultivate the powers of his own 
spirit, and the ecstatic who devotes his life to that culture. The former 
may be termed a " SpirituaHst," the other an " Occultist," and both terms 
may be used in derision or reproach by opposing theorists ; but, if instead 
of laying down theories, and then distorting the obvious nature of facts to 
suit them, we were first carefully to formulate our facts, and then deduce 
logical theories from thence, might we not find Spiritualism and Occultism 
to be convertible terms, and the accomplished Yogi to be only a highly 
endowed Medium, whose gifts had been exalted by processes of mental 
and physical training ? 

As it is, vague theories are becoming more and more divergent from 
proven facts, and in the attempt to make them cohere, such wild and 
incoherent views of Spiritual existence are being promulgated, that the 
world is sinking into grosser darkness and confusion from the perversion 
of Spiritual facts, than ever prevailed before those facts were demonstrated. 

Advising our readers to recall the accounts of phenomena produced in 
the East, as given by Le Hue, McGowan, Nevius, Sir J. Barrows, Lane, 
Salt, Jacolliot, and other writers, we proceed to gather up a few more 
crumbs of Spiritual evidence, from the well-spread board which Oriental 
history furnishes forth. 

On one occasion when the author was invited to attend a Chinese funeral, 
it was a remarkable sight to observe the total apathy on the subject of death, 
displayed by those who were known to be loving and affectionate relatives 
of the deceased. 

An intelligent Chinese merchant present, pointed to the number of gar- 
ments in which the deceased was arrayed, in evidence that the Spirit was 
supposed to derive assistance from them in the new country to which he 
had passed. 

Like the rice, and other edibles which the Chinese place on the tombs 
of their friends, these garments are not assumed to be appropriated 
materially. It is believed that the spiritual part of all earthly substances 
is of service to departed ancestors, and by them assimilated in their new 
state of being, as a welcome tribute of earthly remembrance. 

It is proper here to mention, that the MongoHans believe in various 
spheres of Spiritual existence after death. 

A very intelligent Japanese gentleman, a priest, and writer of school books, 
informed the author, that the general opinion amongst Mongohans was, 
that the Spirits who throw stones, knock, disturb houses, and haunt trees 
and woods, are evil minded earth bound souls, who did mischief on earth, 
and still continue to practice it. Those who play on instruments, write 
in sand, appear as apparitions, and give good counsel, are Spirits whose 
affections and interests still draw them to the earth. The very high Spirits, 
such as Fo, or Joss, Buddha, Lao-Tze, &c. are souls of men who have risen 
by virtue and purification on earth, to become saints and gods. In that 
phase of doctrine termed " Lamaism," it is firmly believed that the Grand 



322 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Lama is an incarnation of Buddha himself; thus with the exception of 
" the great celestial Emperor of Heaven," the unknown and unknowable of 
all religions, the Mongolians generally believe that the souls of men consti- 
tute an essential part of the Hierarchy of Spiritual existence by which the 
government of the universe is conducted. They do not teach that the 
higher intelligences can communicate, except through inspiration, and the 
agency of lower Spirits, although they do sometimes say they see the gods 
in the form of brilliant lights, or divine apparitions too glorious for mere 
mortals to gaze upon. Messrs. Nevius, Doolittle, and other authoritative 
writers, concur in affirming that the Chinese believe all their gods, except 
"the Supreme Emperor" were once men, from the idle "kitchen gods," 
who delight in fun and mischief, to the inspiring deities who rule our 
mundane sphere. 

This deeply rooted faith in human Spiritual agency, is actually assigned 
as one reason why polygamy has been practised in Mongolian lands. Dr. 
Eitel, a well-known Christian missionary of Hong Kong, declares, that 
when he remonstrated with his converts against this custom, they pleaded 
for its continuance on the ground, that it was necessary to provide an ample 
posterity to do them honour, and worship them, when they themselves 
should be Spirits. The same plea was alleged by a man in the service of 
Captain Thomas Hunt of Salem, Massachusetts. He had taken a second 
wife whilst his first was yet living, and when Captain Hunt reproved him, 
he alleged that as his first wife had borne no offspring, he must take a 
second, or if necessary a third or fourth, otherwise he should leave no one 
on earth to offer him fruits and flowers, or welcome him back when he 
wished to revisit the earth as a spirit. 

THE KARENS. 

Amongst 'the once unknown people of the far East, with whom the 
facilities of modern travel have made the Western nations acquainted, is a 
quiet peaceful tribe of Burmese, called " Karens." 

The author of " Art Magic," who spent some time in their villages, gives 
accounts of their Spiritual belief, from which we make the following 
extract : — 

" In the mountain regions of Burmah reside a people called * Karens,' who dwell in 
small settlements or villages, and pass lives of singular purity, temperance, and honesty. 
Their religious teachers are called Bokoors, and their office is to inculcate moral principles, 
predict the future, and interpret the will of the Supreme Being to man. 

" Besides these, there is an inferior class of prophets, called Wees, or wizards, who cure 
the sick by spells and charms, fly through the air, bewitch cattle, exorcise the evil spirit 
out of them, and perform many other wonderful things. . . . Their faith in the 
presence and ministry of the spirits of their ancestors is immovable. They declare they 
often see them by night as well as by day ; they converse freely with them by signal knock- 
ings, voices, the ringing of bells, and sweet singing. They perform good of&ces, and warn 
their friends of danger, sickness, and death. . . . The Karens believe that the spirits 
of the dead are ever abroad on the earth ! ' Children and grandchildren,' say the elders, 
' the dead are among us ! Nothing separates them from us but a white veil. They are 
here, but we see them not ; only a few gifted ones have eyes to see into the spiritual 
world, and power to hold converse with particular spirits. . . . ' " 

Many writers of eminence have given accounts of ancient magic in Egypt, 
though but few have written on its present status. In Mr. Peebles' inte- 
resting sketchy work " Around the World," we have the following items 
concerning this subject : — 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 323 

"The gods, the guardian angels of the ancient Egyptians, were once mortal men. 
Sanchoniathon, whom accredited historians place before the time of Moses, wrote in the 
Phoenician. Philo of Byblus translated a portion of his works into Greek. [Here follow 
a few Hnes.] Egyptians and Phoenicians accounted those the greatest gods who had 
found out things most necessary and useful in life, and who had been benefactors of 
mankind ! Hermes Trismegistus acknowledged that the gods of Egypt were the 
souls of dead men ; and Plutarch informs us that the Egyptian priests pointed out where 
the bodies of their gods lay buried. Cicero wrote : ' The whole heaven is almost entirely 
filled with the human race ; even the superior order of gods were originally natives of 
this world ! ' 

" And with these gods, angels, and spirits, the Egyptians of remotest antiquity held 
constant converse. . . . On their tombs, towers, and obelisks, are pictured mes- 
merists in the act of pathetising subjects, . . . The angel of Spirituahsm has sounded 
the resurrection trumpet of a future existence in every land under heaven. Madame 
Blavatsky, assisted by other brave souls, formed a society of Spiritualists in Cairo about 
three years since. They have fine writing mediums and other forms of manifestation," 

From the once beautiful city of Alexandria, so recently reduced to 
ruins by the barbarisms of war, the author has received a number of 
interesting communications from the family of Mr. Marcus Temple, a 
European SpirituaUst, several of whose children became Mediums for 
different phases of Spirit power. This gentleman represented the 
Medium power manifested in various families of his acquaintance as 
quite remarkable, but added, that public opinion was against them, most 
of the Europeans residing in Alexandria being accustomed to associate all 
subjects of a super-mundane character, with the orgies of howHng Dervishes, 
snake charmers, and the practices of religious mendicants. He fully con- 
firms the descriptions of native Spiritualism as given in " Art Magic," and 
the sketches of Messrs. Salt, Lane, Mrs. Poole, Miss Martineau, and other 
writers on Eastern customs. 

The tribes of Dervishes in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, are generally divided 
into twelve grades, all of whom are more or less trained systematically, 
and all of whom profess to practise magical arts in connection with super- 
mundane or Spiritual powers. Their modes of culture include the methods 
already described, such as silent contemplation, fasting, ablutions, asceticism, 
chastity, whirling, spinning, violent motions, the use of noise, music, and 
narcotics. The Dervishes, besides these well-known modes of inducing 
ecstacy, have many traditionary customs of extreme antiquity, the modus 
operandi of which is known and handed down orally from generation to 
generation, but never committed to writing or inscription. Sometimes those 
destined for this strange Ufe pass their initiatory processes in companies ruled 
over by one highly experienced teacher j sometimes they become solitary 
Santons, and frequent deserts, mountain passes, savage wilds, or lonely 
hermitages, from which they only emerge on self-imposed missions, or for 
special purposes. Many of these solitary Santons as well as individuals 
amongst the associated companies, are evidently natural Mediums, seers, 
prophets, and clairvoyants, and these always become the best wonder- 
workers. They live on the simplest fruits, roots, and herbs, and except for 
the purposes of stimulating themselves to mantic frenzy, use tio intoxicating 
drinks, or "pleasant food." The five principal classes into which the 
Dervishes are resolved, out of the twelve grades which are their religious 
subdivisions, are as follows : — The dancing, whirling, or spinning Dervishes. 
The howlers, shouters, singers, or criers. The fire eaters ; the snake 
charmers, and the illusionists. All these performers save the two last 
named, work themselves up to frenzy by their peculiar modes, in which 
condition they prophesy, see visions, predict the future, find lost or hidden 



324 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

things, and work marvellous feats. The snake charmers and illusionists 
are unmistakable magnetizers, and exert their powers over the lower 
animals or man himself, on the principle of electro-biology. Their powers 
oi fascination, are simply marvellous, and it is by these that many seemingly 
impossible feats of wonder are apparetitly effected, before multitudes of 
people. There are some good healers amongst them, and some, who like 
the Tartar Lamas, can mutilate their bodies, and restore them instantly. 

There are story tellers — or improvisatores — also in their ranks, poets, and 
visionists. They are skilful in discovering lost property, and very often 
good diviners. Their prayers, cries, motions, music, and mentrams are but 
means of inducing the psychic state ; but question them, and they will one 
and all declare they are assisted by the gods, and Spirits of ancestors. 

Ennemoser in his " History of Magic," gives graphic descriptions of how 
the Lapps and Siberian Schamanns stimulate themselves to the mantic 
frenzy, by noise, the beating of drums, cries, leaping, dancing, spinning, 
&c., &c. Precisely similar rites are attributed by Godwyn to the ancient 
Hebrews, in their various methods of enquiring of the Lord. 

The glamour of sectarian superstition, entirely obscures the reason of 
devout Christians, when the rites of the Hebrews are brought into question, 
otherwise, they would long since have seen the parity of these Arabian 
magical practices, with David's "leaping and dancing before the Ark;" 
Saul catching the contagion of prophecy when he met a company of 
prophets coming down with tabret and harp, &c. ; David expeUing the 
spirit of evil from Saul by playing on the harp ; Elisha calling for a 
minstrel, when he wished to prophesy, and hundreds of other obscure 
customs, and rites alluded to in the Bible, which have been piously left 
untouched, and unspeculated upon, but which, in the light of modern 
travel and observation become too intimately associated with other magical 
customs of Oriental ecstatics, to be longer misunderstood. 

In the modern matter of fact, and very often coldly-material Spirit circle, 
the use of music as a means of promoting power, has become too famihar 
to need remark. No philosophical attempt is ever made to explain the 
connection of music with the production of phenomena, although elaborate 
treatises are written upon the nature of " Akasa," or the wonder-working 
life principle which the Eastern ecstatic claims to accumulate, dispense, and 
manipulate with as much certainty as the electrician can evolve force, by 
setting his battery in action. 

It is well known by the friends of the Davenport Brothers that their 
controlling Spirit " Morgan," used frequently to beat them, and compel 
them to wrestle and struggle with him, when he wanted to exhibit power 
through them of an unusual character. In Mrs. Hardinge's " Modern 
American Spiritualism," a weird character is described in the section on 
Spiritualism at St. Louis as " The Color Doctor." This personage, who is 
known to have effected the most incredible cures simply by will, the effect 
of his presence, or the laying on of hands, was always accustomed to 
dance and spin round, and perform extraordinary gyrations, before pro- 
ceeding to operate on his patients. Sometimes he threw himself on the 
ground and called upon those he intended to heal to jump upon him, 
stamp on his ribs, with all the weight of powerful men, and these tremen- 
dous feats — often performed in the author's presence — never seemed to pro- 
duce any other than beneficial effects on both patient and operator. The 
incredulous reader will remember similar performances recorded by the most 
trustworthy narrators, as occurring in the cures effected at the tomb of the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 325 

Abb6 Paris, amongst the convulsionnaires of St. Medard. Frail women would 
implore stout armed men to beat them with heavy mallets, or huge blocks of 
wood, often screaming out, " Heavier still, good brother ; heavier still, for 
tJie love of God," All these items of occult power and possibility have yet 
to be studied, systematized, and their true philosophy discovered, before 
the first clue is obtained to a true Spiritual science. 

When those who claim to be the depositories of all wisdom, and able to 
enlighten mankind on all mysteries, refuse to do so, because their know- 
ledge is too sacred to be entrusted to any but the initiated, humanity is provi- 
dentially perhaps thrown upon its own resources, instructed in the worth- 
less egotism of assertion without proof, and taught to analyze facts, before 
venturing to hypothecate theories. 

It seems clear then from the well-proven and world-wide facts of modern 
Spirit communion that the occult power by which unseen beings can mani- 
fest force, intelligence, and all that constitutes humanity, through a passive 
and automatic Medium, is just as wonderful as that which enables the 
Fakir to make sticks and stones come and go at his bidding. The power 
which floated Mr. Home out of one window, and in at another, in the 
presence of half-a-dozen unimpeachable witnesses, is no more to be 
despised or derided, as the work of " shells," or the " cast-off garments of 
the dead," than the power that enabled Covindasamy to raise himself in 
the air, before the eyes of M. Jacolliot. 

No theorists can explain away such phenomena without discrediting all 
the rules upon which human testimony is received, neither can they pretend 
to attribute different causes to similar results, until they are prepared to 
show cause for their allegations and prove their statements by their facts. 

Whatever is possible to one human being through laws and forces 
inherent in nature is possible to all through the operation of similar laws. 
But, when humanity is transcended and a super-human world of existence 
enters upon the scene, human laws are of little or no avail, either to prevent, 
produce, or account for what is effected. And this is precisely the position 
in which the thoughtful SpirituaUst is now placed. 

He sees the Medium wholly passive and inoperative, and yet all the 
phenomena which demonstrate human intelligence, although invisible, are 
moving, acting, and manifesting around him. He sees the Fakir enacting 
even greater marvels, and claiming to do part by his own power, and part 
by the same Spiritual aid which operates through the Medium. He hears 
the blatant assertion of the theorist that he knows all about it; "that the 
Medium is only operated upon by dead nieji^s emanations ; a something 
which is nothing ; whilst the Fakir effects all his marvels through his own 
Spirit. If the SpirituaUst asks for proof of these assertions, the theorist 
closes down upon him with the contemptuous assurance that these 
mysteries are only for " the initiated," and unless he were " an adept," he 
must be content to swallow whatever "adepts" choose to affirm, with 
unquestioning reverence. 

It would be an insult to common sense to offer any commentary on such 
a position, although many a really intelligent seeker for Spiritual truth, is 
obliged to stand in this category, and be derided as " only a Spiritualist," 
by the advanced minds who were once in the ranks with him. To such we 
would say, take heart ! The world en 7nasse, no less than the " advanced 
ones " in their own esteem, are but as yet standing in the dawning light of 
the great day when Spiritual science is beginning to illuminate the earth. 
Continue to seek for your facts, before you attempt to found systems, or 



326 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

build up theories. Somewhere the point of contact will be found between 
the apparently unrelated extremes of the passive Medium, and the whirling 
ecstatic. " Spiritualism and Occultism " may yet prove to be one, and the 
Spirit embodied and disembodied, may but represent different degrees of 
power common to both states, when speculation gives place to knowledge, 
and assertion to proof. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN HOLLAND. 



For the benefit of those who desire to study the literature of Spiritualism 
under all aspects of national variety, it is to be regretted that a knowledge 
of the Dutch language is so limited. 

Besides the record of numerous Spirit circles extending over a period of 
many years, there have been works of rare interest on this subject, published 
in the Dutch language, which are unattainable to readers not familiar with 
that tongue. 

It may seem surprising to those who are accustomed only to regard the 
unimpassioned, even phlegmatic element in the Dutch character, to learn 
that Spiritualism has made a deep mark upon the people, both in Holland 
and its colonies. Such is the fact however, whether the cause is to be 
found in some peculiarity of physique, or climatic influence, favourable to 
the production of psychic phenomena. 

For the records which follow, concerning Spiritualism in Holland, the 
author is chiefly indebted to four good friends whose unsupported state- 
ments alone would be sufficient to satisfy any enquirer who had the privilege 
of their acquaintance \ besides which, the author has spared no pains to 
authenticate every narrative, both from public and private sources, of the 
most veracious character. 

It only remains to add, that three contributors to the following pages, 
for personal reasons, have deemed it necessary to withhold their names ; 
the fourth, M. A. J. Riko, has generously placed his name and a mass 
of valuable information at the author's disposal for public use, a favour 
which both compiler and reader cannot too gratefully acknowledge. 

As M. Riko's contributions are rendered into very readable EngHsh 
phraseology we shall commence our present section by giving the opening 
sketch as nearly as possible in his own words. 

SPIRITUALISM IN HOLLAND. 

" The introduction of SpirituaUsm in Holland is due to that well-known 
supporter of the cause both in England and on the Continent, Mr. J. N. 
T. Marthese. This gentleman being by birth a Dutchman, naturally 
desired to aid his countrymen in studying the interesting facts of Spirit- 
ualism. 

" For this purpose he revisited his native country in 1857-8, bringing with 
him the young American Medium, Mr. Daniel D. Home. Besides giving 
several private seances at the Hague, Mr. Home was introduced at court, 
and gave seances to the late lamented Queen Sophia, for which he was 



^K^fe^?t*V 1^%^ 




W.J. COLYILLE 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 327 

presented with a splendid ring. Mr. Home also gave a semice to a society 
of Free-thinkers, the publishers of the Dageraad, a journal devoted to free- 
thought subjects. This, and many other seances given to distinguished 
persons at the Hague, created a wide-spread public interest." 

Before proceeding further it may not be uninteresting to give Mr. Home's 
account of his seance with the amiable royal lady above named, especially 
as the communication sent to the London Spiritual Magazi?ie is written 
in the modest and unassuming tone which generally pervades Mr. Home's 
statements of personal experiences. He says : — 

" In the month of January, 1858, Mr. Tiedman Marthese, whose name is so well 
known in connection with Spiritualism, invited me to accompany him to Holland. He 
hoped to arouse the attention of his countrymen, and lead them to investigate the 
important truths which he had, after careful scrutiny, proven to be realities. It is to him 
that the advent of Spiritualism in Holland is due. 

" The day following our arrival at the Hague, a message was sent from the Queen 
requesting my presence the same evening at the palace. I went as desired at eight o'clock, 
and as I write to-day the memory of that chill, dreary palace stands before me like some 
weird dream. I was shown into a drawing-room. On entering, a lady met me, and in 
the purest of English accents, bade me welcome. Supposing this to be a lady-in-waiting, 
I said, ' I believe, Madame, that the Queen is expecting me.' If dark and chill stands the 
memory of the palace, in bright contrast, and as a ray of blessed sunshine, will ever live 
the music of that sweet voice, so recently hushed by the birth of her pure spirit into the 
realms of endless day, as, with a merry laugh, she replied, * I am the Queen.' 

" It was proposed to have a seance, and after nearly ten hours of patient expectation not 
the shghtest result had been obtained. The next evening, and indeed six or seven suc- 
ceeding evenings, were passed in like manner, and I began to fear that for some, to me 
unknovra cause, there would be an entire failure. The last evening but one her Majesty 
said to me, ' Mr. Home, I have but an imperfect idea of the conditions necessary for what 
is termed a seance, but I am convinced that your surroundings the past evenings have not 
been congenial. I think if you vsdll follow me we will find just what is required.' Taking 
a light, the Queen had passed through two rooms, and was about to unlock the door of a 
third, when I, as it were involuntarily, said, ' It is there the next stance is to be held.' 
Unlocking the door and handing me the light, the Queen said, " I well knew it would be 
in that room ; go in and see my treasures.' Dimly though it was lighted, I saw at a 
glance that it had been a room where a child or children had been, for in one corner was 
a broken toy cart, and near it a toy drum. Other toys were strewn here and there, as if 
the little ones, weary with play, had left the room for a time, and as if the silence would 
soon again be broken by their presence. At last my eyes rested on a bunch of faded 
flowers, and these betokened a lapse of months, or even years, as having been undisturbed. 
The Queen informed me that this had been the playroom of her child, now in heaven, 
and that every object had remained just as he left it. The flowers alone had been added, 
and these had been near the little form after the change we term death, 

" The next evening a stance was held there, and that sorrowing mother was granted 
the most perfect and convincing proof that her loved one was still near her. It is impos- 
sible to give the details of what took place, for they were of a nature so intimate to the 
one person, that to recapitulate them to the public would seem almost sacrilegious. 
There were present relatives of her Majesty and one maid of honour, who, as well as 
myself, were witnesses, and they cannot have forgotten the tears of joy shed by that 
most noble and highly-gifted woman as she bowed her head in thankfulness to God for 
the solace sent to cheer her. 

" Taking a sapphire and diamond ring from her finger she placed it on mine, and on a 
scrap of paper in my possession, and of far greater value to me than gold or precious 
stones, is this simple memento, whereon is written : ' / will ever remember with gratitude 
the siance with Mr. Home. — Sophie.' 

"No. 6, Nevsky Prospective, St. Petersburg, June 6th, 1877." 

If the reader of the above letter chance to be an ordinary marvel seeker, 
he will be astonished to find a lady, whose rank and station had familiarized 
her with an ever-ready and prompt compliance with all her wishes, patiently 
waiting for many' successive evenings to obtain something, which after all, 
might, prove of little value to her. Still more remarkable will appear the 



328 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

simple statement of a renowned Spirit Medium, that royalty had to wait 
through seven seances before an exhibition of his powers could be given. 
To the true and philosophic Spiritual investigator Mr. Home's conduct, 
and candid acknowledgments, will suggest the earnest wish that every 
Spirit Medium would imitate his example ; then would fraud be at an end, 
and the world might indeed obtain a clue to a true Spiritual science. 

After Mr. Home's departure from the Hague, family circles began to be 
formed ; many Mediums were developed, who obtained remarkable phe- 
nomena, so that in process of time, the sitters were favoured with Spirit 
voices, speaking audibly, direct writing, touches by Spirit hands, musical 
performances by Spirits on various instruments, together with the movement 
and transport of ponderable bodies from place to place. These phenomena 
were given most freely in the house of Mr. T. D. Van Herwerden, "Ancient 
Resident," of the Indian Government at Java. The Medium in this family 
was a very ignorant Javanese boy, named " Aridjan," of whom further 
mention will be made hereafter. Mr. Van Herwerden, a gentleman 
universally respected, published a work on his wonderful experiences in 
Spiritualism illustrated by numerous photographs and fac-similes of Spirit 
writing, which was privately circulated amongst his friends and connec- 
tions. Remarkable phenomena were obtained in many other families besides 
Mr. Van Herwerden's, and in many places besides the Hague, but as there 
were no professional Mediums in Holland, and the manifestations could 
only be witnessed in private famihes, the names of the parties, and the 
marvels enacted in their homes, have been only known by report. 

Notwithstanding the reticence attending the investigations, they excited 
so much interest in the best society, that fresh circles were continually 
forming, and several associations began to arise for the more orderly and 
scientific study of the subject. One of the oldest and most numerously- 
attended of these associations was founded by Major J. Revius, a warm 
friend of Mr.'Marthese before alluded to. Major Revius entered into the 
investigation of SpirituaUsm, with great earnestness, and devoted himself 
for many years to its advancement. He it was who founded the society 
called " Oromase " (or Ormuzd), of which physicians, officers, government 
officials, and many distinguished persons formed the members. The aim 
of this association was to study the phenomena and the laws of their 
production, Avithout any attempt to fasten upon them, creeds, or religious 
doctrines. The first regular meeting of this society was inaugurated at 
the Hague on the evening of December 2nd, 1859. Careful minutes of 
the proceedings were written down, and entered upon the society's books. 

The " Oromase " archives contain many interesting records, and the 
meetings were presided over by Major Revius until the year 1871, when 
he was removed from his sphere of mundane usefulness, to the higher life 
beyond. 

We are informed by one of Major Revius's warm friends and admirers, 
that he was a man universally beloved ; one who was respected even by 
his opponents in belief He was buried with military honours. The 
royal band of the King's Guard rendered the music, and a funeral oration, 
which our informant — who was present — assures us was a most eloquent 
and touching tribute to the worth of the deceased, was spoken on the 
occasion by Monsieur A. J. Riko, the secretary of the "Oromase Society." 
This was the first occasion on which Spiritualism was openly discoursed of 
at the Hague, and its introduction at so solemn a scene, created not a litde 
interest and sensation. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



329 



To return to M. Riko's own narrative, he says : — " The Oromase Society 
celebrated its three hundredth meeting by a social gathering and supper on 
February 25th, 1876." He adds : " Besides holding seances, the theoretical 
side of the important subject has not been neglected. ' Oromase ' possesses 
a really splendid Hbrary of the principal standard works on Spiritualism in 
different languages, and an interesting collection of American, English, 
French, German, and other national periodicals, devoted to the subjects of 
Spiritualism, mesmerism, psychology, &c." 

Amongst the numerous societies for the study of Spiritualism founded 
in Holland was one in Amsterdam called " Veritas," which commenced its 
sessions in 1869. This society seems to have specially cultivated trance 
speaking and Spirit communications obtained through writing Mediums. 
The doctrines advocated therein, inchned to the belief in re-incaruation, 
as taught by Allan Kardec, and in this respect it differed from " Oromase," at 
which the members were more concerned with scientific and inductive 
methods; hence, although the investigators of both societies were on 
friendly terms with each other, the diversity of opinions was fully realized. 
The society at Amsterdam, like that at the Hague, kept records of its doings, 
and distributed "leaves," containing the Mediumistic communications 
given at the seances. 

At Rotterdam, there existed a small society, the cognomen of which, 
translated, was — Research after Truth. The association did not last long in 
session, but its members have steadily pursued their researches in private 
family circles. The same course is adopted in Haarlem, Amsterdam, and 
many other towns in Holland, besides at the Hague, and everywhere, these 
seances are crowned with more or less success. 

Although there has been a general unfoldment of all the phenomenal 
powers witnessed in England and America, except form materialization, there 
seems to be a great desire for physical phenomena, and an absence of well- 
developed local Media for that phase of power. 

The Hague, Rotterdam, and other large towns have been visited by 
foreign celebrities such as Henry Slade, the Davenports, Bastian and 
Taylor, Miss Lottie Fowler, Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane ; Williams, Heme, 
Eglinton, .Rita, " the Bamford Boys," Miss Cook, and several others ; in 
fact, during the last few years, Holland has formed an invariable scene of 
attraction to the American and English Mediums visiting the Continent. 

So long as Spirit circles were held in private families, wherein many of 
the Mediums, especially at the Hague and in Amsterdam — were ladies and 
gentlemen of high social standing, little notice — save in the way of furtive 
allusion — was taken of the subject by the press, but when foreign Mediums 
— especially those who made the subject their profession — came before the 
people, the columns of the newspapers were filled with articles written in 
the usual spirit of ridicule, denunciation, or grave scepticism. 

Respondents were not wanting. Newspaper correspondence, magazine 
articles, and pamphlets, were published in defence of " the cause." Much 
talent was called forth, and many admirable expositions of what Spiritualism 
really was and is, arose out of these newspaper discussions, which else 
would never have been brought before the world. M. Riko in giving some 
account of these skirmishes, writes in his own quaint way thus : — 

" The defenders however were not lazy in sharpening their pens, and many replies to 
attacks besides pamphlets and books appeared. Amongst the most able of the defenders 
was Mr. H. G. Becht, a surgeon ; a logical thinker of very positive mind and one whose 
pamphlets are amongst the best products on Spiritualism which ever saw the light. 



330 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Further we had Eoorda van Eysinga who is publishing still a periodical devoted to the 
religious side of Spiritualism (or rather Spiritism), an ex-clergyman of great capacity and 
a very elegant author. The communications through the medium Rose, an honourable aged 
man, form the greater part of this periodical. Then we have our admirable and talented 
authoress, well known for her other literary works, Madame Elise van Calcar who publishes 
also a monthly periodical. She chiefly defends the study of Spiritualism on biblical and 
religious grounds. 

" Other defenders of Spiritualism and Mesmerism in our country were Mr. A. Hoch, 
surgeon ; Eutgers van der Loeff, ex-clergyman ; Dr. Polah, doctor in philosophy ; not to 
forget Major Revius, who first of all put liis name to his pamphlets on Spiritualism. 
A. J. Riko published a history of Spiritualism on the Continent, an analysis of the different 
explanations of the scientific world, a collection of facts, rules for investigators, etc." 

We shall have more to say about the literature of Spiritualism in Holland, 
especially of the work effected by Madame Elise Van Calcar, at the close 
of this section ; meantime, we may add, as soon as the subject began to 
be canvassed abroad in the journals, whether the reports were favourable 
or antagonistic, the dissemination of Spiritual ideas received an immense 
impulse. Another great factor for moving public opinion was the transla- 
tion into the Dutch language of the Spiritualistic works of Professors 
Wallace, Crookes, and Varley. These logical writings, illustrated by 
engravings, diagrams, and extracts from other authoritative writers, were 
published in a volume of about four hundred and sixty pages by the 
liberality of the Hague Spiritualists, whose names have already figured in 
this chapter. Some five lectures too were given at the Hague by MM. 
Riko and Wasch, whilst other speakers did good service in various direc- 
tions; in short, propagandism once commenced, proceeded in earnest, and 
had the foreign Media who visited the country, all been as free from 
reproach, and selfish aims, as the Dutch Spiritualists themselves, the cause 
would now hold a triumphant empire over the intellectual minds of Holland 

A field so inviting as Spiritualism, has of course been traversed by its 
base imitators, and Holland has been no more lacking in its " Bishops," 
" Baldwins," and other itinerant " exposers " (of their own tricks) than has 
England or America. The Dutch, it must be remembered, are neither 
easily moved to belief, or unstable when once convinced. 

They are not to be imposed upon by pretenders, within or without the 
ranks, and hence imported frauds, and local " exposers," have never 
shaken the well-grounded faith of the Dutch Spiritualists. Of the colonies, 
or Dutch Indies, it is enough for the present to say the impulse to regard 
" supernaturalism " in the light of modern Spiritualism was communicated 
by several persons of note who were sent by the Government from Holland 
to fill official positions in the colonies. The prevailing superstitions very 
much resembled those of the Hindostan provinces, and the introduction of 
Spiritualism in its modern sense, has effected a most beneficial influence ; 
substituting a rational and scientific system of communion with beloved 
Spirit friends, for the fantasies of demonism, and the worship of heroes and 
ancestors. 

Hauntings, stone throwing, and other preternatural disturbances have for 
many years previous to the introduction of modern Spirituahsm, been 
popularly known in Java, Sumatra, Madura, and other districts of the 
Dutch Archipelago. 

A detailed notice of the disturbances occurring at the house of M. Van 
Kesslinger, the Assistant Resident at Bandong, will hereafter be given, 
together with the official report of the same preserved in the state archives 
of the Colonial Government. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 331 

Several well-skilled mesmerists have visited different towns of Holland, 
and given exhibitions of "animal magnetism" through susceptible subjects. 
One of the most popular lecturers on this subject who visited the Hague, 
was a Signor Donato, who did much to awaken the attention of the 
thoughtful to the intimate connection betwen the powers and potencies of 
the embodied mind, as displayed by the magnetizers, and those of the 
disembodied, as manifested in the phenomena of Spirit communion. 

Many remarkable cases of haunted houses have become notorious of late 
in Holland, some at the Hague, others in Friesland, Amsterdam, &c., «S:c. 
The manifestations in the instances alluded to, precisely resembled those 
common in Europe and America ; in fact, their sameness proves that they 
emanated from sources universal throughout all countries. 

For the present, all reports agree, that there is a quiet steady interest 
prevaihng through the different towns and amongst the circles where 
Spiritualism has been made manifest in Holland, still public interest is but 
little stirred on the subject. 

The same unanimity of opinion prevails on the belief that the 
unmistakable frauds that have been perpetrated by certain English and 
American Mediums visiting the country, have served to bring Spiritualism 
into public disrepute, and to check the tendency to private investigation 
amongst the unconvinced. 

One of our correspondents, a gentleman holding a high official position 
in Holland, writes with equal frankness and reason on this subject, to the 
following effect : — 

" Whilst it has been due only to interest and influence in high quarters that we could 
get a hearing through the journals for our well-attested facts, the rumour of a medium 
being caught in the very act of tricking runs like a conflagration through every newspaper, 
and spreads poison through the whole community against us. . . . Yet even this we 
could endure patiently, because it is the work of our antagonists, and just what we may 
expect ; but the worst stab our cause can receive is dealt by the foes of our own household ; 
those spiritual editors who, the moment their tinsel medium is caught at one circle in the 
act of imposing, straightway begin to defend him, and fill their columns with accounts 
of aU the good things he did at some other circle ! What sort of logic is this ? If these 
impostors were true on other occasions, why do they prepare — for they must first make 
their preparations — to cheat us ? But still worse. We who have spent our time, money, 
and risked our good names, to uphold this cause are by these editors reviled and abused 
for exposing the frauds. Here in Holland, though the stufied gloves, wigs, masks, and 
phosphorus of these deceivers are in our possession, we who bring them here at much 
expense to prove our faith, are actually accused of a conspiracy to ruin it ! What 
insanity is this ! Can we wonder that our local press assume that the editors of spiritual 
journals are simply frauds paid to defend frauds, and that we the believers are in league 
with them, or else are lunatics incapable of judgment. 

" If there is yet another thrust which pierces the heart of Spiritualism to the quick 
it is that excuse of which we read so much in your English papers, which says that when 
the pretended /o?'»i is seized at a materialization seance, it must always be the form of 
the medium, as the spirit must needs melt bach into the medium's body. This is a very 
fine excuse, no doubt, but can those who know this result so well, inform us why the 
wigs, masks, phosphorus, and drapery so often used on these occasions don't melt back 
also into the mediums' bodies ? Let them explain, moreover, when the ' form ' and 
medium happens to be a lady why she does not melt back into her clothes, she being 
very generally found in one place and her clothes in another ! I learned in your country, 
dear madame, a saying with which I beg to close — it is, * Tell that to the marines, but 
not to a Dutchman ! ' " . . . 

As an evidence that the shrewd writer of this communication has never 
been, and is not now, inimical to true and genuine professional Mediums, 
it should be added, that he has been largely instrumental in procuring 
their services in Holland, and forwarded with the above, several laudatory 



332 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

press notices of the Davenports, Slade, Foster, and others, the reprint of 
which would convey no new impression of those fine Mediums' powers. 
The following letter, however, from Ira Davenport to Mr. Robert Cooper, 
of Eastbourne, is copied from the London Spiritual Magazine, to show the 
kindly impression that honest Mediums have received from the true- 
hearted SpirituaUsts of Holland. It runs thus : — 

" La Haye, Oct. 7, 1866. 

"Friend Cooper, — In my last letter I promised to write you again shortly. We 
returned here yesterday from Rotterdam, where we gave three public stances to very large 
and respectable audiences. The people who came to see us were the first people of the 
city. The admission was four and a half francs. Previous to going to Rotterdam we 
gave two seances in this place, which is the Brighton of Holland. Here, too, the people 
who came were all of the first society, and were highly pleased with the manifestations — 
so much so, that we have been invited through the newspapers of the town to return and 
give more seances, as many persons wish to see us who could not avail themselves of the 
previous opportunity. So, on the whole, we have concluded to repeat our stances here for 
two nights more. 

" About a week since we had a paper sent to us, containing an announcement of some 
sleight-of-hand man ; that he was in possession of our ' secret,' and intended to give 
public explanations and illustrations. I immediately wrote a reply, warning the public 
to be careful in paying their money to this man until he had proved himself worthy of 
their patronage, by accei^ting a challenge to meet us for five thousand florins a side, and 
making good his pretensions. We have heard nothing from the gentleman since. 

" On the whole, we are very well satisfied with our experience in Holland so far. The 
probability is, that we shall stay in this country two months yet. — Yours truly, 

"I. E. Davenport." 

In a still earlier number of the London Spiritual Magazine, in the year 
i86i, the veteran SpirituaUst, Major Revius, gives the following interesting 
account of his son's mediumship. After describing the young man's powers 
which were similar and scarcely inferior to those of Mr. Home, the Major 
says : — 

" After Mr. Home's departure from the Hague, my son attended many stances among 
our friends, and other mediums were developed. At one of these stances, at the house of 
a physician, the spirits of the late Monsieur and Madame G. announced their presence. 
Monsieur G. had possessed a considerable fortune, which he had bequeathed in a way dis- 
appointing to the expectations of the doctor and his family. After the doctor had expressed 
his feelings of dissatisfaction on this jjoint, he asked what they wanted there ? The answer 
was- — ' To seek a reconciliation with you.' ' Then you go, G.' said he, ' and let your wife 
speak ; I never thought very well of you ; let her tell me the reason of your leaving the 
property as you did.' ' You had enough,' was the answer, ' and so I persuaded my 
husband to dispose of it in favour of my own family, which needed it.' ' Ah ! another 
proof of your selfishness,' said the doctor, ' of which you gave so many, that nobody 
regrets you, nor cares to remember you.' ' You mistake there,' was the reply : 'there is 
a poor widow, now living in — — Street, who remembers me for acts of kindness.' ' Well,' 
the doctor said, ' we forgive everything ; it's all over now.' Upon which the table pressed 
itself obliquely against the breast of the doctor, and others of his family who were sitting 
round it. The communications in this stance were by the alphabet. 

" The next day, two of the company, determining to enquire into the facts, found out 
the street so mentioned. It was a small one, inhabited by poor people. The gentlemen 
ultimately found a widow, who said that she had known Madame G., who had been dead 
so many years, for which she was sorry, as she had often received from her the tickets of a 
charity, by which she obtained bread, clothing, and fuel. She said that she lived in 
another street in the lady's lifetime. 

" At a seance at my own house, two generals, my friends, were of the company : they 
wanted proof that they were not under any biological influence or hallucination. The 
table round which we were seated was strong, and weighed a hundred and ten pounds. 
At my request, the spirits raised the table free from the ground, and let it fall in such a 
way as to break the pediment. The gentlemen came the next day, to see if the table was 
actually broken, as it appeared to be the night before ; — for my part, I had still further 
evidence of it in the cabinet maker's bill. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 333 

" The large table being tlius broken, we moved to a smaller one. General M. V. asked 
if this lighter table could turn itself upside down ? The table replied by the alphabet — 
' Turn upside down yourself.' To the General's question, ' Did you ever know me ?' the 
answer was — 'Yes, at Bergen-op-Zoom, forty years ago, when you were a subaltern.' 
The General said this was according to fact. At my request the spirits made this little 
table feel so heavy, that we could not raise it by our united efforts, and then so light that 
we could lift it with the little fingers 

" We have a Medium here, a little girl of ten years of age. On a recent occasion at a 
siance where this Medium was taken, the spirit of the hostess's brother announced his 
presence. This brother was captain of a merchant vessel, which had not been heard of 
since the 10th of October, 1854. Through the young Medium's hand it was written that 
his ship was ' wrecked on the English coast, on the 14th of October, 1854, and all on board 
perished.' The lady asked as a proof that he would write his name by the hand of this 
chUd-medium. The lady was a perfect stranger to the Medium. After some letters were 
begun and as often rubbed out, the signature of the captain was written, perfectly 
corresponding to signatures in letters from him, and wliich she had carefully preserved. 

" A few months ago, my wife, myself, and son were passing the evening at a friend's ; 
several young people there proposed to amuse themselves by turning the table. They 
went into an adjoining room and soon returned with the news that they had turned a 
work-table and now proposed to try their hands at the large one in the mlon. Observing 
twitchings of the hand in one of the young ladies, I got pencil and paper and proposed 
that she should hold the pencil as if to write. After some objections, she took the pencil, 
and at the instant of holding it as if to write, fell into the magnetic sleep, and thus wrote 
with closed eyes four full pages, in which a spirit expressed its happiness at being able by 
this means to assure his protegee that he was always watching over her. That the young 
lady was in the magnetic sleep I assured myself, by holding a sheet of paper between her 
face and the pencil, which did not prevent the Unes from being straight and equidistant ; 
the letters were large and like those of a person not in the habit of writing. It was 
subsequently found that the signature to this singular writing was that of an ancestor of 
the Medium on the mother's side, a Professor of the University of Gronigen, two 
centuries ago." 

In the same commanication as the above, Major .Revius furnishes 
another incident of a circle in which he was himself present, although it 
occurred at Antwerp, and a report of the occurrence was subsequently 
published in the Monde Musical, of Brussels, Jan. 22, 1865. Major Revius 
describes it thus : — 

" A few evenings ago several persons were at a seance at the house of one of the 
most distinguished inhabitants. Some of them seated at a small table waited gravely, 
and with confidence that an inmate of the other world would deign to come and communi- 
cate. All at once the table was agitated ; there was a spirit. ' My friends,' said the 
invisible visitant to the attentive group, ' I come to offer you the means of doing a good 
action and of comforting the unfortunate. In the street La Cueller, there is a narrow 
lane, terminating in a cul de sac. In this lane, on the first floor of a house. No. 12, you 
will find the family of Charles Sorels. Four children, of whom the oldest is but thirteen 
years, scarcely covered by some wretched rags, are lying in a corner, trembling with cold, 
on some straw. A fifth child, nearly naked, is pressed by its mother against her breast, 
dried up by sufiering and want — such is the spectacle which I have witnessed. Hasten 
to relieve them, you have not a minute to lose ! This is why I have come to you." 

" Every one was astounded by this message, and could scarcely credit it. Nevertheless, 
interest, curiosity, commiseration excited them to the highest degree. Some of them 
were quickly on the way. They soon found the narrow street, of which before they had 
scarcely suspected the existence, and then the blind alley, more squalid stUl. On 
enquiring for Charles Sorels, they were soon shown the house, where they found the 
f amUy exactly in the miserable condition described by the spirit. Need we relate the 
rest ? The family of Charles Sorels, at the moment that I write these lines, is snatched 
from want, and relates its providential rescue to all who wish to hear it." 

The same circumstance will be found detailed by M. A. Malibran m the 
London Spiritual Magazine, of July, 1865. Happily for the belief in 
Spirits versus " astrals, shells, reliquice of the dead, &c.," "who never tell 
anything but lies, or do anything but mischief," a large number of such 



334 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

occurrences are recorded in the history of American SpirituaHsts at the 
New York Conferences, and in the experiences of Judge Edmonds, Mrs. 
E. J. French, and many another who firmly beUeved in the agency of good 
and kind human spirits before theories arose to sweep them away into the 
limbo of Ghouls and Hobgoblins. 



CHAPTER XL. 

SPIRITUALISM IN HOLLAND (CONTINUED). 

Narratives of Personal Experiences. 

As the progress of Spiritualism in Holland has been chiefly confined to 
private family circles, select associations, and occasional notices of literary 
works, the exceptions being the publicity obtained by the visits of foreign 
professional Mediums, it may be expected that we should give a detailed 
account of a disgraceful exposure of two Englishmen professing to belong 
to the latter class, for whom their friends and apologists still claim " remark- 
able Medium powers." In this connection we have only to reaffirm the 
purpose announced in our opening chapter, whilst promising to give as 
faithful an account as possible of such manifestations as belong to the 
history of Spiritualism, we altogether decline to devote time or space to its 
base counterfeit. 

What is not Spiritualism will find no place in these pages. It must 
suffice then to allege that on more than one occasion the Dutch Spiritualists 
have been plagued with these pests of every great cause, the tricksters who 
are ready to become " Mediums for Spirits," or their own sham imitations, 
whichever is found to pay best. It is due to the Dutch Spiritualists to 
state, that they themselves, having nothing to fear but falsehood, became 
the exposers, nor did they shrink from the ridicule heaped upon them and 
their cause, by their exultant enemies through the columns of the secular 
press. 

In Holland, as in every other place where the veritable truths of Spirit- 
ualism have been made manifest beyond a shadow of question, the defalca- 
tions of unworthy pretenders, and the lampoons of the press, have never 
affected the conduct of those, whose faith has deepened into knowledge. 
Thus it is more than probable that the interposition of the counterfeit and 
its discovery, would not have affected the progress of Spiritualism injuriously, 
provided the SpirituaUsts themselves had united in a stern denunciation of 
such practices; but unfortunately, the ranks of the movement include a 
number of worthy persons who in their exceeding charity endeavour to 
account for what they call the appearance of fraud on the hypothesis of 
" transformation, transfiguration," &c., &c., making a compound of 
philosophy and miracle, of a far more astounding character than all the 
phenomena of genuine Spiritualism. 

It is under such circumstances as these, that public interest in the cause 
of Spirit communion has obviously declined in Holland, although the 
belief, founded upon unimpeachable proofs, cherished by the " old line " 
SpirituaUsts, remains unshaken. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 335 

To the world — which in future generations at least — -may be disposed to 
pass judgment uninfluenced by " the passion and prejudice of that partisan- 
ship " which mars the accuracy of philosophic opinion, we now offer a 
statement of the following facts, all of which the author has carefully 
. scrutinized, proved, and feels justified in recording as testimony founded 
upon the rock of truth. 

The first case to be cited is a notice of the manifestations which occurred 
in the family of M. Van Brussel, a gentleman of independent means, and 
highly respectable standing, residing at the Hague. 

For some time, M. and Mdme. Van Brussel had noted the occasional 
production of sounds, and the spontaneous movements of ponderable 
objects, occurring in the vicinity of their daughter Albertine — a sweet girl, 
about fifteen years of age — when the attention of the family was first drawn 
to Spirit manifestations. After they had become convinced that this young 
lady was a Medium they communicated the following occurrences to the 
" Oromase " Society. 

On a certain night, the father being awake, observed that the bed in 
which his daughter was sleeping — in the same room with her parents — was 
moved from its place. The time was mid-summer, and the nights were 
quite light. On the following night both the father and mother were 
awakened by an unusual noise, when they observed that the footboard of 
their daughter's bed was taken away, and placed at some distance against 
the wall of the chamber. As Albertine was apparendy sound asleep, no 
notice was taken of this circumstance to her; but the father, the next day, 
not only replaced the footboard, but tied that and the other parts together 
with strong cords. 

The next night the parents were awakened by still more violent noises, 
when they perceived the cords were being untied by invisible hands, and 
the pieces of the footboard were placed against the wall. Heavy rappings 
accompanied these movements through all of which the young girl slept 
soundly. Besides the sounds above described, the alarmed parents heard 
the soughing of a wind which seemed to be moaning through all the apart- 
ments on that floor. Very shortly after the commencement of these scenes, 
the beloved young daughter passed to the land of Spirits, leaving her 
loving parents almost inconsolable for her loss. Very soon after this sad 
change in the little household, manifestations began to occur which 
became obviously identified with the Spirit of the loving child they had 
lost. Portfolios and other objects which had belonged to her were carried 
about, and her books were moved before the parents' eyes. 

In 1873, some few years after their daughter's departure, a book in which 
as a child she had studied, and which was reverently cherished by the 
mourning parents, dropped into the mother's lap, and on opening it she 
read in the daughter's well-krtown handwriting, the words clearly and 
freshly written, of which the following is the translation : — " Dear Father, 
although dead, I live near the good God. When dear mother weeps, oh 
comfort her by remembering my blessed lot." Within a few years, both 
the good father and mother passed on to their peaceful rest, but during the 
brief period of their sojourn on earth, their bereaved hearts were comforted 
with unnumbered such instances of their child's presence and sympathy 
as those related above. 

Monsieur A. J. Riko gives the following account of the movement of 
ponderable bodies occurring in the presence of a mesmerized subject. M. 
Riko had become much interested in mesmeric practices, and was himself 
a successful operator. 



336 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Calling upon a lady of his acquaintance one day, at the Hague, she 
asked him to mesmerize her, alleging that she could give no reason for the 
request, except a strong impression that she ought to do so. There were 
present besides this lady, her daughter and a cousin, and ^this is what 
ensued : — 

The lady was no sooner placed by passes under the mesmeric influence, 
than the large table which stood in the centre of the room, moved wholly 
without contact, and placed itself against the arm of the chair in which 
the mesmerized subject was sitting. The hour was about three o'clock 
p.m., the room well lighted, and the whole scene witnessed by three sane 
persons. It ought to be borne in mind in this connection, that the Baron 
Dupotet, and M. Billot, the eminent magnetizers of Paris, published, 
even before the year 1848, accounts of the movement of chairs, tables, and 
other ponderable bodies in the presence of their magnetized subjects. 

Dr. Ashburner and Mr. J. C. Luxmoore of England, both gentlemen of 
learning, research, and non-professional magnetizers, have affirmed that the 
same phenomena often occurred in the presence of their magnetic subjects. 

These gentlemen were of opinion that the magnetism they gave out in 
their passes, was analogous in quality to the " force " derived by Spirits from 
their Mediums, and that its diffusion in the atmosphere, enabled Spirits 
to make the manifestations so often observed in the presence of mesmerized 
subjects. 

M. Riko, desiring to prove the intimate connection between "the force" 
employed in mesmeric passes and Mediumisra, cites an example which may 
be selected from many others for its suggestiveness. 

M. Siemelink of Amsterdam, well known in Holland as the author of an 
excellent Spiritual work, entitled, "Immortality Unveiled," to which the 
good Queen Sophia was the first subscriber — was well known for his 
remarkable power as a healer by mesmerism. 

One of his patients, a young lady of aristocratic rank, residing at the 
Hague, he could readily affect by passes made at Amsterdam. The father 
of this patient, a gentleman of unimpeachable veracity, kept a careful 
record of the phenomena which occurred at the times when M. Siemelink 
projected this power from a distance on his patient. The exact time when 
the operations began and ended, were noted, and always found to corres- 
pond with the patient's magnetic sleep. Moreover, the young lady 
noticed, that a Spirit, whom she accurately described, and who was found 
to have been M. Siemelink's brother, was always present on these occa- 
sions, and showed himself in the act of manipulating the fluid or force 
projected from the mortal magnetizer. And here it is proper to remark, 
that the author — who on several occasions consented to be the magnetic 
subject of Drs. EUiotson, Ashburner, and Mr. Luxmoore, of London — 
always saw Spirits assisting in the manifestations, and as these Spirits were 
strangers to the seeress, but were invariably recognized by their description 
as friends of the parties present, it is fair to infer, that the assertions so 
often made by magnetized subjects is true, and that kind, disembodied 
Spirit friends, especially physicians and scientists, assist in these experi- 
ments, and materially aid the operations of human magnetizers. The Spirit 
of Benjamin Franklin, speaking through Mrs. E. J. French, of New York, 
and confirming his statements through the lips of the entranced Medium 
by loudrappings, alleged that the force which forms the life principle of the 
mortal magnetizer, is the Spiritual body of the enfranchised soul — one and 
the same element — only that, with the Spirit, it is finer, more subtle, and 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 337 

penetrating, than when in the mortal body ; hence, that the force of the 
magnetizer on earth, and in the Spirit world, are one and the same thing, 
differing only in degree, and only requiring special subjects to act upon, 
and special qualities in the subject, in order to produce analogous mani- 
festations. 

At the house of Mr. H. C. Becht, a medical gentleman, well-known and 
respected at the Hague, but one who at the time of the occurrences about 
to be detailed, had by no means yielded up his full belief to a Spiritual 
origin for the phenomena, a seance was held when the medium was Mr. G., 
a Government telegraph officer, whose full name it is not deemed expedient 
to give. This gentleman had often obtained direct writing for his friends, 
and at the commencement of the seance in question, was promised strong 
manifestations. Presently M. Becht, as the greatest sceptic of the party, 
was invited to say, what manifestations he liked best, and he expressed 
a desire for direct Spirit writing. After this the Medium wrote, that it 
should be found in the porcelain cup on the small table between the 
windows. 

M. Riko says : — 

" Now our friend Becht, left the table ; went and inspected the small table and its 
immediate surroundings, after which, he took his place opposite the medium with the 
company. He requested every one in the room to remain quietly at his or her place, which 
was done. After this he put a question on which he desired the answer by direct writing. 
It was a question in respect to a history unknown to the medium, in fact M. Becht's 
private affair. The medium went on to write automatically, and spoke with the company. 
After a few minutes the medium wrote that the direct writing was done. Nobody had 
left his or her place and the surgeon had his eyes continually on the medium and the cup. 
Then M. Becht went himself to the small table and took out of the cup a long piece of 
paper rolled together, on which was written 20 lines, giving a perfect answer to the 
question which he had put. It looked as if it were written with lead pencil, but no paper 
or lead pencil had been near the cup or table. On that same evening two more pieces of 
direct writing were obtained, while the company named the place where it must be 
found, viz. — once in a hat on the piano and the second time outside the room, before the 
door of another room. The hat was first inspected, the door of the room shut after 
inspection of the corridor. Both times the direct writing was found at the desired 
spots." . . . 

" Spirit lights were very frequently observed at the Hague. At a dark circle at M. 
Becht's, these lights appeared at spots indicated beforehand by one of the sitters, while 
nobody left his place. Once they came on the chimney at the greatest distance from the 
medium, where three lights shone for some minutes observed by all. 

" Keport 26, October 1st, 1869, of ' Oromase ' describes light phenomena on the hands 
of a lady. It appeared on request several times in the same way." 

"Different sounds from instruments came under our personal observation. In a 
company of several persons we once obtained the playing of a small harp in a degree of 
light which permitted every one to see the instrument upright on the table, and swaying 
in different directions while nobody touched it." 

" Report 16 B, March 4th, 1869. — Duets were played with an ^olian harp, lying 
on the table, and some porcelain plates shut in a chest near one of the walls in the 
dining-room of Hotel Keisershof, at the Hague, moving in time, and very strongly, to 
the tune played on the harp. The medium through which these things happened was 
a young blacksmith." 

"At Rotterdam, M. Wasch obtained a great variety of manifestations. Rappings, 
playing on musical instruments ; tying and untying through the invisibles ; light pheno- 
mena, trance speaking, &c." 

" In ' Oromase,' at the Hague, where M. Wasch was received as a friend, several 
stances were held with him. Once the medium was levitated to a considerable height 
while he was held at both hands — at one side M. P., an officer in the army, and at the 
other through me. We were obliged to climb on our chairs in order not to let the 
floating medium slip, and several of us felt the soles of his boots rest on their heads, 
Another time the spirit moved freely round with a phosphorus light, which we had 
provided for the occasion. In the family circle, M. Wasch obtained still stronger 
manifestations." 



338 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Several of our kind Dutch correspondents furnish us with accounts of 
haunted houses in different towns and cities of Holland, but whilst we 
take this opportunity of thanking them for their trouble in these trans- 
scriptions, we do not find enough diversity from other familiar accounts of 
the Polter-Gheist to warrant our making use of their several narratives. 
The exception to this rule, will be found in the following chapter, in which 
we give a condensed report of the manifestations occurring in the Dutch 
Indies and the official examination into the affair conducted on the part 
of the Government. 

Before inviting the reader to follow us in the perusal of this account, 
we may relieve our text from the quotation of various authorities by stating 
that the narrative is condensed from the writings of Mdme. Ida Pfeiffer, 
Professor A. Wallace, Dr. Hatton, an eye-witness of the scenes described, 
and a surgeon of a military station in Java, M. Riko, and other corres- 
pondents of a trustworthy character. 



CHAPTER XLL* 

SPIRITUALISM IN HOLLAND (CONTINUED). 

The following introduction will serve to show the quality and standing of 
the parties whose experiences will form the subject of this chapter. 
M. Riko says : — 

" Among tlie first manifestations observed in Holland, those occurring in the family of 
M. Van Herwerden at the Hague, belong to the most remarkable, and merit to be 
preserved for the history of the movement in Europe. M. Van Herwerden himself was 
a highly esteemed man who during many years occupied with honour the office of 
President of our Government in one of the principal districts of the Isle of Java. Like 
many of our Indian officials he after a long service, asked his dismissal, and settled at the 
Hague. The family was received among the best classes at the Hague. M, Van Herwerden 
himself was a very positive thinker, an exact observer — in short, a man not to be deceived. 
The manifestations occurred in his own house, through the mediumship of a young 
Javanese boy, named Aridjan, 14 years old, ignorant as the Javanese are at that age, and 
incapable of forming any idea about spiritual manifestations. He inhabited the house in 
the quality of a servant ; was very kindly treated, and felt thoroughly happy. The 
phenomena lasted several years, and were witnessed by hundreds of the developed class ; 
including professors, clergymen, physicians, etc. M. Van Herwerden at the repeated 
solicitations of acquaintances interested in Spiritualism, published a volume of notes at 
his own cost for private use of his friends." 

It would seem that strange disturbances in the house and in the vicinage 
of the boy Aridjan had attracted attention, and suggested the idea of a 
Spiritual agency for many months prior to the time when the circles 
commenced. The first sitting was proposed by friends of the family who 
had been apprised of the disturbances, and was held on the evening of 
March i6th, 1858. At first the manifestations were slight and unimportant. 
Still they were sufficiently marked to prove that some foreign though 

* Our readers will kindly bear in mind the sources claimed for the narratives given In this and 
the preceding chapters on Dutch Spiritual Manifestations. In order to preserve the simplicity and 
point to the good faith so clearly manifested in the several translations herewith submitted, the 
author has preferred to retain as much as possible her correspondents' own phraseology. 




Hon. Alexander Aksakof, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 339 

invisible power was present, and that the boy Aridjan supplied the force 
by which the unseen operators manifested. At the seventh seance loud 
rappings were heard, and intelligent answers were spelled out by the 
alphabet. The table at which the stances were held was a large one, and 
a lamp was kept burning in the room by Spirit direction. The Javanese 
Medium could neither read, write nor spell, and sat perfectly still in the 
chair provided for him, unless moved about, as was often the case, by 
Spirit power. For the rest of the details, we shall refer the reader to M. 
Van Herwerden's diary, which was published under the title oi Experie?ices 
and Communication on a still Mysterious Territory. 

This book numbers over 200 pages, and is profusely illustrated by 
diagrams and fac similes of spirit writing, drawing, &c., &c. Only a few 
extracts from M. Riko's translation of this curious record can be given, 
but they will suffice to show the general character of what occurred. 

" 8th July, 1858. — A young lady got at request strong blows on the table, in the 
presence of two servants who — after being called in the circle room — gave their testimony. 
A little later, the door of the room opened ; rappings on the table and scratching at the 
back of a paper the lady had in her hand, were followed by distinct touchings on her face. 
Aridjan remained in another room, and no manifestations occurred there in the lady's 



" 23rd August, 1858. — A frivolous spirit manifested, and one of the ladies present 
exhorted him about his conduct. The table moved very quickly in the lady's direction 
and obliged her to retire to the wall by pressing with force against her. 

" 25th Augiist, 1858. — Besides Aridjan, another medium was present. Rappings and 
strong blows all round the room. It seemed the spirits attracted by the two mediums, 
did not sympathise, for the noise and moving of furniture indicated clearly a fight 
between two spirits. Even the mediums were shaken and their chairs rocked. Once 
Aridjan was thrown to' the floor with chair. At last Aridjan's friend seemed to get the 
victory ; he showed this by giving a tremendous blow on the table, followed by a strong 
grip on the keys of the piano which stood at some distance behind the medium. After this 
all remained quiet. 

"22nd September, 1858. — At a stance held in another family M. Van Herwerden had 
made acquaintance with a spirit calling himself Paurellus, and, claiming to have been a 
Spanish monk who was assassinated in one of the cloisters of this city, about 300 years 
ago, performed a series of very remarkable manifestations. This evening Paurellus wanted 
the lamps to be taken out of the room, and paper and pencil put on the table. After 
about 20 minutes writing was heard on the paper, after which the paper flew like a bird 
round the circle, which made Aridjan scream for fear. The paper was then thrown on the 
table and the lead pencil flew to the other side of the room. On getting the lamp again, 
some Spanish words were found on the paper. There was also direct writing in a tongue 
unknown to all in the circle. After this, Paurellus wrote some words in Dutch, " Faith, 
hope, charity," and other small sentences. In the subsequent s^a?ices, the writing developed 
more and more, as will be illustrated. 

" 16th October, 1858. — Aridjan wrote by means of a planchette, a series of extraordinary 
hieroglyphs, which showed a great likeness to the spirit writing published by Kerner in 
his ' Seeress of Prevorst.' Of course the ignorant Javanese boy knew nothing about this 
■work published in German and not translated in Dutch. After this, Paurellus touched 
the keyboard of the piano which he had often done before. ... In the course 
of this month very interesting communications in French were obtained through the 
planchette, by a spirit signing herself Aurelie de B -. 

"3rd November, 1858.— Some days previous to this sitting, M. Van Hewerden had 
put on the table a kind of child's accordion. Paurellus had tried it, but soon threw it 
away. Another accordion, much better, was provided. At Paurellus' request the lamp 
was taken to another room and the piano opened, after which, the company, with the 
boy Aridjan, seated themselves at one side of the table, in close proximity to each other. 
Aridjan got sleepy, but Paurellus, who didn't like this, kept him perfectly awake by 
heavy blows under his chair, or by shaking him now and then with force, a perfect 
remedy against sleep. After having knocked at different distances on the furniture, 
Paurellus gave several rappings on the instrument with the decided wish to have the 
attention of the sitters fixed on it, after which, he took the accordion and began to play. 
Now he floated the instrument high above the heads of the sitters, then again he swiftly 



340 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

moved it near the floor. Sometimes he played with full force, and then again in 
beautiful pianissimo. After having finished this performance, he put the instrument 
on the table. Four times he resumed his music, and sometimes held the instrument 
directly at the ears of the sitters, as if he were afraid to have them miss one tone. In 
the pauses of his music, he took the piano tabouret and placed it on the table ; opened 
one of the music books and played a slow melody on the piano. To finish the performance 
of this evening, Paurellus lifted the heavy table several times as high as the sitters' eyes. 

" 12th November, 1858. — Paurellus began to show for a moment behind the medium 
a column of light, but it was still weak. After this he showed several times small but 
brilliant lights in different parts of the room. By direct writing he produced two verses 
of a religious hymn of the Dutch Protestants. 

" 29th November, 1858. — One of the sitters mentally wished Paurellus to lift the 
table and touch the piano, without uttering a single word about it. After a few minutes 
the table was Hfted very high, and directly the keys of the piano resounded with force. 

I "18th December, 1858. — M. V. H. had made a pair of pasteboard speaking tubes, 
which were put on the table beside the accordion paper and pencU. Paurellus came at 
the hour he had announced at a previous sitting, he being always punctual He played 
first the accordion. Then he placed a chair at the free side of the table, always kept 
ready for him, after which he took one of the tubes and spoke through it to each of the 
sitters. But the excitement of the latter at this first hearing of the direct voice, and the 
faintness of the sounds, rendered what the good Paurellus said not understood. Still 
it was learned that he promised to bring on a following occasion some good spirits to 
assist him. He touched the sitters with the tube, and gave rappings on it to prove that 
it was he who held it himself. 

" 7th February, 1859. — At a previous sitting, Paurellus had promised to give direct 
writing in a shut room. This evening Paurellus said this had been done. One of the 
ladies took a lighted candle and the door key and went upstairs to the room which had 
been set aside. However, the paper on the table was untouched, and the lady let it 
remain where it was, with the pencil. On leaving the room she heard the rusthng of a 
paper, and her dress was pulled. On looking on the floor, she found a sheet of paper on 
which several characters of spirit writing were found. This manifestation was repeated 
on the 11th of February, when the paper was found covered with a drawing representing 
a human figure besides some hieroglyphs. 

" 19th February, 1859. — This evening Paurellus played the guitar while another spirit 
accompanied him on the piano, which stood at its ordinary place against the wall. After 
a while, on Pailrellus's request, one of the company 'in the flesh' played the guitar, a 
lady the mouth harmonica, one of the spirits the piano, while Paurellus himself took his 
accordion and managed the performance. At the same time many spirit lights danced to 
the measure of the tune round the Medium Aridjan. After this Paurellus asked one of 
the ladies in French 'Jouez encore une fois,' and after this had been done, with an 
accompanying song, he said, ' Merci, jolie chanteuse.' " 

"16th May, 1859. — In the meantime Paurellus had succeeded in materializing his 
hands, and very often he touched the sitters or laid his hand in theirs. He had succeeded 
also in playing a pair of castagnettes to an accompaniment of the piano. 

" 20th May, 1859. — Paurellus was presented vrith a new and beautiful mouth harmonica ; 
there was no end of his playing this evening. Once he accompanied a quatre main by 
the invisibles on the piano. By direct writing he thanked for the new instrument. A 
lady gave Paurellus a sealed letter. He took it gently from her, broke the sealing wax, 
after which he wrote for a moment, and placed the answer in the lady's hand. Nobody 
knew the contents of the letter besides the writer, and the answer was correct. The lady 
had asked how she could vanquish her fear of the spirits, and Paurellus answered she 
could do this by praying to God. 

" 23rd May, 1859. — Paurellus spoke this evening very distinctly and slow, and on one 
occasion a religious song executed on the piano was accompanied by sweet spirit singing. 

" 1st September, 1859. — One of the ladies sat at the piano. Mrs. Van Herwerden 
expressed a wish to have her eau de cologne flagon. Paurellus took it from her, opened 
first the golden and then the glass stopper, which he put on the table. He moistened his 
hand and rubbed one of the gentlemen's foreheads, then he sprinkled the lady at the piauo 
with the scent, and put the glass stopper under Aridjan's nose. 

" 3rd November, 1859. — This evening, the light streaming in from cracks in the bUnds 
Was sufficient to distinguish the furniture in the room, the pictures on the wall, etc. The 
usual manifestations went on, but no forms could be seen who did them. This was also 
the case on January 14th, 1860, when the accordion was seen floating through the room 
sustained by nothing. On the same evening, Paurellus made a lady feel the sleeve of his 
dress, which she described as very vsdde and soft. 

" 16th February, 1860. — Paurellus wished from one of the ladies a lesson on the piano. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 341 

He took her by the hand and conducted her to the instrument, after which he put his 
hands on the key-board. The lady directed this spirit hand, and put the fingers on the 
right keys. This evening he sang also more than once. 

" 29th March, 1860. — By the light coming in through cracks in the door of the room, 
a tall form in long drapery was seen moving through the room. 

" 11th May, 1860. — Paurellus asked for ink, which was given him, and produced a 
direct writing in Spanish — a language unknown to the whole family. The writing finished 
with the words (translated) : " Don't believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they 
are from God." 

"31st May, 1860. — This evening, two spirits were seen in the room, who seemed to be 
holding an interesting conversation, as could be perceived by their quick gestures, 

" 15th June, 1860. — Paurellus showed a luminous hand. 

"13th July, 1860. — Mr. D. G played a grand air from 'Martha' on the piano, 

accompanied by Paurellus, who moved very quickly, now in the bass, then in the descant, 
often between the hands of the player, along the key -board, 

" 23rd March, 1861, — The lamp remained in the room where it was put, in a corner 
behind a table cloth. By this dim light the accordion was played, and the opening of 
the keys seen, without a hand touching it. 

" 30th May, 1861. — Paurellus took the large table from the circle, and placed it near 
the door, at a distance of 10 or 12 feet. A little one was then put by him in the circle. 
Some moments later two gentlemen were lifted with chairs and all, and turned in different 
directions, Paurellus wrote with ink at the large table, at a considerable distance from 
the sitters, Paurellus played the accordion under the table, and touched the sitters 
with it. The heavy table floated through the room at a height of 3 or 4 feet, while 
Aridjan remained in his chair, 

''3rd April, 1862. — Within some days we go to the south of Italy. I told this to 
Paurellus, and he wrote directly, ' I wish you a good voyage, God be with you ! I'll 
come whenever you'll call me.' Aridjan will accompany us. 

" 8th July, 1862. — Paurellus manifested every time during our voyage we sat for mani- 
festations. On our return to Paris, he told us one of the servants at home had been ill. 
This was verified at our arrival at the Hague. Last months of 1862, Paurellus manifested 
only occasionally. He told us that he in the future wanted permission from higher, 
spirits to come. At the same time Aridjan became suffering, so that we had to cease 
our sittings. 

" So far the few and incomplete extracts from Mr. V. H.'s diary. They are sufficient 
to show the gradual developing of the manifestations from rappings to playing of different 
instruments, direct speaking, singing and writing, spirit Kghts, mind reading, material- 
isation, etc. The drawings also executed through the spirit, showed a great progress. 
First he made rough and childish sketches, but after some exercise very good drawings." 



CHAPTER XLII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE DUTCH INDIES. 

All observers who have had an opportunity of investigating Spiritual 
phenomena in countries where an aboriginal population is still found, will 
realize the fact, that the coloured races seem to be largely endowed with 
that pecuhar force through which Spirits from the life beyond can communi- 
cate with mortals. That which we now call " Mediumistic power," appears 
to prevail so largely in the organisms of aboriginal people, that spontaneous 
manifestations of Spirit presence are far more abundant amongst them, than 
with Europeans, 

It is doubtless the extent and spontaniety of this force amongst savage 
races, which gives rise to the opinion that they are " very superstitious," and 
that the phenomena which actually occur, are due to the effects of ignorance 
and hallucination. 



342 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The time is not far distant when such opinions will be visited on the 
propounders, and "ignorance" in connection with Spiritual manifestations 
will consist of incredulity, rather than honest belief in facts. Still other 
noteworthy features in aboriginal Spiritualism are violent disturbances and 
manifestations of a mischievous nature. It need hardly be pointed out, 
that such specialities are only in accordance with the obviously human 
character of the source from whence these manifestations come. 

The lower and more degraded a human being, or Spirit may be, the 
more he rejoices in mischief, and delights to rule by fear, and the exercise 
of tyrannical power. 

It must also be remembered that the white races have generally acted as 
the oppressors of weaker and less civilized nations than themselves ; hence, 
the harassing disturbances attributed by white settlers to aboriginal Spirits, 
may not improbably arise from a sentiment of racial enmity, and desire for 
retribution, and although Spirits are rarely if ever known to inflict bodily 
injury upon those whom they harass, and this, when it is evident from 
their feats of strength and dexterity that they have the ability to do so, 
it is not unreasonable to suppose they may take pleasure in the performance 
of such mischief as will astonish and annoy the people whom they regard 
as the enemies of their race. There are some noble exceptions to this 
rule, as in the case of many negro slaves whose Spirits often return to do 
good to the families of their white owners. Still more remarkable is the 
exception afforded by the North American Indians ; " the hapless red man," 
whose wrongs, inflicted at the hands of his white oppressors, exceed all 
possibility of belief. And yet the Spirits of these high-souled savages have 
ever been prominent in returning good for the evil inflicted upon them. 
In the modern Spiritual dispensation it is well known that there is scarcely 
an American Medium who has not been attended and generously served by 
a kind Indian, Spirit. These children of nature bring their knowledge of 
the healing properties of roots and herbs, to the aid of afliicted humanity. 
Wise in counsel, strong in physical force, and beneficent in healing, the 
Red Indians hold a special place in the history of modern Spiritual mani- 
festations, which it would be the height of ingratitude to deny or repudiate. 
The reader is kindly invited to consider these remarks, before entering 
upon the details of the following narratives. They are offered as a necessary 
introduction, to account in some measure for the strange and apparently 
malignant manifestations which are to be described in the ensuing pages. 

Spiritualism has always been rife in the Dutch Indies. As the people 
with whom its phenomena have occurred, invariably attribute them to an 
evil and revengeful spirit, although a human one, and fear to provoke acts 
of retaliation by complaint, they are very loath to speak of these things, 
especially to those who try to investigate them. On the other hand, the 
writers in the different Colonial journals, who are apprised of supernatural 
disturbances through popular report, are apt to dismiss the subject with 
flippant comments on the " superstition of the lower classes," or ridiculous 
travesties of the occurrences in question. The tone of public opinion has 
undergone so great a change since those who are in the high places of 
society have condescended to investigate, and in many instances to endorse, 
the fact of Spirit communion, that people in the middle ranks of life are 
encouraged thereby and no longer feel ashamed to acknowledge that which 
their senses have borne testimony to, and hence, we are flooded with 
accounts of what has occurred through Spirit power in the Dutch Indies. 
From a vast multitude of records we select the following. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 343 

A gentleman holding a high official position in Java, writes to the author, 
describing several rural districts that have been completely abandoned in 
consequence of certain disturbances which the country people attribute to 
a Gendarola or Spirit of an evil human being. 

Our correspondent says : — 

"In 1834, at Saehapoesa, there was a much respected family by the name of Teisseire. 
Mr. T, was a government inspector of indigo. One day, while dining, stones fell upon his 
table, and for a fortnight fell in every chamber of his house. 

" Some years after the above took place, similar phenomena were again recorded at 
Bandong while M. V. Van Gaasbeck was there as 'assistant resident.' The civilized 
Javanese regents and the native chiefs affirm that these things often occur in the ' colonies,' 
but that the Indians seldom mention them, because they are ridiculed by the * skeptical 
Neerlandaii.' 

" At one time there came the bones and at another the whole head of a buffalo. The 
Regent of S., wishing himself to know about these strange occurrences, came to pass the 
night there, but when he put himself on the bed it was so shaken and finally lifted from 
the floor, that he quit at once. Tkere was a light burning in the room, and the Regent's 
son and servants were about him. What was especially wonderful was that the stones, 
which were marked with a cross or otherwise, and thrown into the torrent of Tjilandoog, 
which ran near the house and was one hundred and fifty feet deep, were in less than a 
minute thrown back again. 

" A M. Ament, in the district of Beranger, an inspector of the culture de cafS, states 
that there was a gendarola in a little house at Bandong, which manifested as follows : 
The police having been placed within and without, an old woman led the way to it by 
its only approach, a narrow lane. She was followed by M. A., an assistant, and the 
Regent, but the moment she crossed the sill of the door she was seized by the legs, thrown 
down, and dragged away by invisible hands. M, Ament, entering the premises, received 
on his breast a quantity of sand thrown with such force that, while telling of the affair 
in 1870 in Batavia, he declared he did not wish again a like experience. 

"In 1825, M. Mertins was Governor of the Moluccas. At Amboina, during his 
administration, in the Fort Victoria, near the close of the day, a multitude of stones fell 
from the air. The fort was so far from any inhabited spot, that the missiles could not 
have come thence. The soldiers were called to arms, but this did not prevent the shower 
of stones and plaster. This was several times repeated, but not a person was hit. In 
Banda, in 1842, this same thing was witnessed." 

M. Riko describes some manifestations in the Dutch Indies a few 
years ago, through the Mediumship of an itinerant, who went from 
place to place exhibiting phenomena which he declared were produced by 
Spirits, and for which no other account could be rendered. 

This man, a half breed, or descendant from mixed castes, would roll 
up his lithe form into a complete ball. In this state a committee 
of sceptics previously chosen, would bind him with cords and knots 
impossible for mortals to loosen, and then sew him up in a strong linen 
bag. A sheet was then thrown over the immovable mass, but in less 
than sixty seconds the man would be invariably free, and enierge unbound 
from the sheet. This performance was given as above stated in numerous 
towns and districts of the colonies, in the light, and in presence of 
hundreds of spectators. 

As an example of the power of the Sefan, or Gendarola, whose tricks are 
so constantly performed in the Dutch Indies, M. Riko gives the following 
narrative : — 

" Another remarkable history happened in the dessa Ngalian Regentship, Boys Lalie, 
Soeraharta. The Javanese Karis Minto, an old weak man, went in December, 1877, on 
a certain evening to a short distance from his house, on some domestic business. On his 
way home he met with a Gendarola, who took hold of him and put him in less than a 
second in a very high naugha tree, where he fixed the man between the branches, with 
bis own sarong. The man told a,fterwards that he could not call for assistance while the 



344 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Oendarola was busy with him. After having spent nearly two hours in this disagreeable 
position, his wife and friends being frightened by his prolonged absence, provided them- 
selves with an ' obor ' (light), and found him in the position above described. He could 
only be liberated by means of a very high ladder, and after much trouble. Similar 
phenomena have been observed in different parts of the Indian Archipelago." 

The following case was communicated to the author by a Javanese 
gentleman of strict probity. The circumstances were published in all the 
Javanese papers, but as it involved the credit of a well-known citizen of 
Madiven, the initials of the parties' names were all that the author was 
privileged to publish. It may be stated however that the facts as now 
related, were translated from the Malay o of 1878 : — 

" On the evening of October 7th, Gretchen, the little seven years' old daughter of M. 

and Madame S came in from the garden seemingly tired of play. In an instant she 

fell on the haU haU (couch) and became unconscious. The parents could not awaken the 
little one, and neighbours were hastily summoned. One of them advised the calHng in 
of old Anne, who was esteemed in that neighbourhood as a nurse, doctor, and something 
of a good witch. 

" Anne comes, when lo ! the child sits up and speaks, though not with consciousness, 
nor in her own voice, but in that of a man. The nurse takes an herb and puts it into the 
child's mouth, and says : ' Setan, where do you live ?' The child answers immediately, 

' I live eastward in the kampong B , and my father's name is S .' The old woman 

replies, ' Then go away ; you have nothing to do here.' The child cries ; ' I will not 
return, as long as the man who lives here does not pay the debt he owes to my father.* 
The inhabitant of the house is thunderstruck ! He owes since some time a sum of money 

to S , and promises to pay it the following day. The child gives them the directions 

to burn some perfume, after which she awakes without remembering anything of what 
had happened." 

Numerous cases of stone throwing and the projection of missiles by 
invisible hands have been sent to the author. The most remarkable 
however, because the' one best sustained by unquestionable evidence, is 
that of the disturbances which occurred in the house of M. Van KessUnger 
of Java. M. Riko having kindly sent a good translation of the ofiScial 
reports printed at the time, we shall again take advantage of his graphic 
pen, only premising that the reader may compare the narrative here 
subjoined, with accounts of the same disturbances described in the London 
Spiritual Magazine of 1868 (February number), by Professor A. R. 
Wallace — mentioned also in Madame Pfeiffer's ** Second Voyage Round 
the World," and several other cotemporaneous publications. M. Riko 
says : — 

" Amongst the spiritualistic phenomena the throwing of stones is one of the most 
remarkable. A very interesting example occurred on the Isle of Java. An official report 
was drawn up about the history, and deposited in the government archives of the 
Netherlands. The report was made by the Assistant Resident and addressed to the 
General Governor of the Dutch East Indian Colonies, J. C. Band. 

" I begin with the document and translate it verbatim. 

" ' 1831. To his Excellency the General Governor ad interim of the Dutch Indies. 
" ' On February 4th, coming home from an inspection, I saw at a distance my house 
surrounded by a large number of people. Unable to understand what that meant, my 
vnfe told me after I had entered, that in the interior gallery and room, there fell a large 
number of stones, and that it was impossible to discover from whence they came. Hearing 
this, I got a little angry, saying, that a person with healthy eyes certainly could see 
through whom the stones were thrown. I went to the interior gallery where most of the 
stones had fallen, and was soon convinced that it could not be done by human hands, 
because the stones fell sometimes perpendicularly just before my feet, without moving 
further, and while nobody was near. I then inspected the boards and the ceiling and 
found them all fixed and joined together without any opening. After this, I assembled 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 345 

all persons living in or near the house on an open place before the house, and had them 
watched by some policemen. After I had shut all the doors and windows I went in again, 
accompanied by my wife. But then the disturbances began still more vehemently and the 
stones came flying from every direction, so that I soon was obliged to reopen the doors 
and windows. This continued during 16 days ; sometimes there fell in one day about a 
thousand stones, amongst which there were some of 9 pounds weight. I must not forget 
to state, that my house is constructed of boards of dry djatiewood, the windows were 
also shut by a lattice work in wood with spaces of about 2 inches. The throwing began 
commonly about 6 o'clock in the morning, and continued till about 11 in the evening. I 
pass silently the particularity that the stones fell mostly near an Indian girl about 11 
years old, and seemed to follow that child ; this is indifferent to the case, and would make 
this report too long to dwell upon. 

"In confirmation of these facts, I give some names of credible persons who were 
witnesses of the affair, and who will give their statements under oath : — Michiels, lieutenant- 
colonel, aide-de-camp ; Ermantinger, ex-inspector of the coffee culture ; Dornseiff, owner 
of an inn at Sumadan ; Born, surveyor ; Adi Path^ Soeria Laga, ex-regent ; Eomman- 
gong Soeria Laga, now Regent of Sumadan ; Soeria Laga, chief djaksa ; and several 
district chiefs. 

" (Signed) V. Kesslingeb. 

For literal copy, 
" (Signed) J. Van Swibten. 

"Batavia, 30th December, 1831. 

" So far the report. The Assistant-Resident Van Kesslinger lived at Sumadan, in the 
Preanger districts. The General-Major, A. V. Michiels, was invited also by the Governor- 
general to hold an inspection in loco, which he did with much care. He was a positive 
minded, and highly esteemed officer. He asserts amongst other points, that he shut 
himself up, only accompanied by the child named in the report, in the room, while nobody 
else was admitted. He placed himself against the wall and took the child near him. In 
this position he observed the fall of the stones during several hours consecutively. They 
came mostly when his attention was fixed especially on the child. They fell perpendicu- 
larly very near her, but never hurt or touched her. The girl was not in the least afraid or 
astonished. In the Indian Archipelago the inhabitants generally believe the stone throwing 
by spirits to be a fact. The Javanese call it Oendarola. 

h. " Mr, Van Kesslinger had no children. His vrife was an Indian lady, and the girl's 
father was the cook of the family. The house was a service-dwelling. On February the 
3rd, 1831, the child played in the room near Mrs. Van Kesslinger ; the husband was then 
travelling. All at once the girl sprang towards Mrs. Van KessHnger, and showed her 
white kabaai (an Indian dress), on which a red siri spittle was seen. The chewing of siri 
is very common in the Indies ;* the lady thought at first it might have been done by one 
of the servants. The girl was given a fresh kabaai, and the affair seemed ended. But a 
moment afterwards the child was again bespit, and at the same moment a shower of the 
yolk of an egg fell directly before Mrs. Van Kesslinger's feet. This was repeated several 
times, so that the lady sent for the Regent Eadeen, Natto Koesomo. This government 
officer was an intelligent and honest man. He came and witnessed the fall of the stones. 
He had the house surrounded by his people, and sent everybody outside. The siri spittle 
appeared just the same, and the stones fell also ; no cause could be discovered. At length 
it was resolved to fetch an Indian priest to exorcise the spirit. He came in the twilight, 
set himself on the floor, with a lamp near him, and opened the Koran, Just as he began 
to read he got such a heavy blow from an invisible hand that the lamp flew to the left and 
the holy book to the right'side of the room. Mrs, Van Kesslinger feared to pass the night 
in the house, and went with the girl to the Regent's wife. That night all remained 
quiet. The following morning, as soon as the lady re-entered her house with the girl, 
the stone throwing began again, till Mr. Van Kesslinger's return. Very seldom there fell 
stones in the night, and the bespitting with siri happened only in daytime. When Mr. 
Michiels, on invitation of the Governor-general, made his investigation on the spot, he 
sent every one away ; placed men on the roof and even in the trees in the neighbourhood. 
He ordered the inner room to be entirely covered with linen. He remained with the 
child alone in the house, but the phenomena went on just the same. The stones were 
such as are found on the roads. Wlien the sun shone they were warm, and when it 
rained they were wet. Commonly five or six fell directly one after the other, and this 
was repeated with short intervals. No opening was ever made ia the linen with which 
the walls and ceiling were covered. The stones became visible at the distance of about 
six feet from the floor. Several trunks were filled with them. Once a papaya fruit was 

* " Chewing of siri "—chewing the hetel nut. 



346 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

thrown, which after inspection was found to have been plucked from a high tree near the 
house ; at other times chairs, glasses, plates, &c. were moved, without anybody touching 
them. At last the impression of a wet hand was seen on a looking-glass which hung on 
the wall. Mr. Michiels remained several days at Sumadan, and he also sent in a report, 
likewise deposited in the archives of the government. 

" The history remains till this day a profound mystery, and no cause was ever detected, 
even after large sums had been offered several times to the person who could throw light 
on the affair. 

" General Michiels spoke very seldom about his experiences. In 1847 at a dinner the 
guests invited him to tell them the history. After some hesitation he did so. General 
Van Gagern, who was at the table, began to laugh about it, when a vehement scene 
occurred in which General Van Gagern was obliged to withdraw his remarks 'and 
apologise.' '' 

M, Riko concludes his narrative with the following remarks : — 

"In Europe, this rain of stones has often occurred. In the street ciw Bacm 1858, 
and in the street des Grhs, in 1849, in Paris ; and in 1871 I know myself what happened 
at the Hague. Capt. 0. E. K. occupied the second story of a house in the street Van 
Hogendorp. A rear room looked out on the dwellings of an adjoining street. After a 
residence there of some weeks, one afternoon a stone struck the window of said chamber. 
This was repeated for several days, generally between 2 and 4 o'clock p.m. Pieces of 
brick, plaster, coal, pottery, and mud enclosed in paper came with such force that the 
chamber was a mass of ruins. The window curtains were torn, and the glass, the 
window frames, all the decorations were in pieces. The missiles came over the environing 
houses, and as if from a distance. The police were actively employed in the matter for 
several days, and ' sergents de ville ' were stationed on the tops of the dwellings, but the 
source of the mischief was never found out." 

It would be impossible to offer any satisfactory comments on the above 
narrative. The Polter Gheist of Germany, and the haunting Spirits of 
America and England, furnish striking parallels to the stone throwers of 
Java ; but for the philosophy involved in the phenomena itself, i.e.^ the 
passage of stones through a closed room lined with linen, in which no 
abrasion or rent could be discovered, and the sudden appearance of 
material objects at points where no human hands could have placed them, 
all this involves modes of procedure which belong only to the realms of 
being invisible to man, and laws of which we are at present profoundly 
ignorant. As to the impelling motives of such manifestations, they are not. 
so difficult of solution. Idle and mischievous mfen and women, boys and 
girls, abound in every city and hamlet of civilization, and such persons as 
delight in ringing door bells, breaking, windows, and pelting inoffensive 
passengers with mud, &c., are not likely to become suddenly reformed by 
the casting off their outer garments in the material disintegration called 

death. If the renowned English Marquis of W , whose chief delight it 

was to scare respectable citizens out of their beds by midnight pranks, or 
upset helpless old costermongers' stores, for the pleasure of seeing the 
distress thus occasioned, had happened to have become a disembodied 
Spirit in the plenitude of his exemplary modes of passing his time, there is 
no doubt that he would have rejoiced in associating himself with a company 
of Polter Gheists or Gendarolas, and thrown stones, broken plates and 
dishes, or spat on little girls' clean aprons, to his heart's content. 

The world of matter has yet to learn that good and evil, mischief and 
kind service, are the promptings of the Spirit, not of the body, and until the 
demons of our city streets are converted into angels, demons they will still 
remain, whether on earth, or in the Spirit world. 

When those who denounce all Spirits as demons, can find a worse demon 
than a bad man, we shall be ready to join in the cry that *' SpirituaHsm is 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 347 

all diabolism ; " until we can find this rara avis, we would counsel those 
who object to the return of " demons " from the other life, to beware how 
they manufacture demoniac characters on earth. 

We must again call attention to the fact, that although much property 
was damaged, and many persons were annoyed and terrified in these curious 
Javanese manifestations, no one was hurt, and the stones hurled at property, 
•were never laujiched against life. Would we could say as much for the 
malignant Spirits, who haunt our earthly homes, still clothed in the panoply 
of flesh. 

It now only remains to notice a few of the honoured names which have 
come prominently before the public in connection with the Spiritual move- 
ment in Holland. The first and most worthy of notice is that of Major 
Revius, to whose good service, attention has already been called, as well as 
to those of several of his confreres and fellow-workers ; MM. Van Herwer- 
den, N. T. Marthese, and A. J. Riko, whose valuable contributions to this 
volume are already known to the reader — in fact the names and services of 
the eminent Spiritualists already noted, need not be reiterated. Mention has 
been made of Madame Elise Von Calcar, well-known and highly esteemed 
throughout Holland, not only for her literary labours, but also for the high 
and spotless reputation which she has so fearlessly devoted to the service of 
SpirituaUsm. This lady, whose name and fame is calculated to shed lustre 
on any cause, has given her best endowments for many years to Spiritualism. 
One of her ablest novels has embodied the current ideas of the movement 
in terse yet eloquent language, and in the shape of a fictional work, entitled, 
in translation, " Children of the Age," she has enlisted the minds of her 
readers in the interests of Spiritualism far more forcibly than she could 
have done by any abstract essays. 

Another, and a still more valuable contribution to the literature of 
Spiritualism, is the well-known journal conducted by Madame Von Calcar, 
namely, a monthly organ (large book size) of over thirty-two pages, called 
" Op de Grenzen van twee Werelden," " On the Boundaries of Two Worlds." 

This fine periodical has been published during the five past years, and 
its completed volumes contain a mass of literature of the most important 
character, including descriptions of Spiritual manifestations in every country 
of the earth. The seers of every age, from Apollonius of Tyana to Andrew 
Jackson Davis ; from Hermes Trismegistus to Jacob the Zouave, are 
described with graphic force and pleasing ideality. This lady's residence 
too on Willemstraat, the Hague, where with her husband she receives the 
best literary and Spiritualistic society of the day, forms a rallying point for 
those in sympathy with her peculiar views, and promotes that friction of 
mind with mind, which is so valuable a result of well organized social 
reunions. 

At Amsterdam, amongst many Spiritualists of good position and earnest 
devotion to the cause, may be named, Mr. J. V. Maurik and his amiable 
lady. Mr. Maurik has won a distinguished place for himself as an author 
and dramatist, but is now better known amongst SpirituaHsts, as a warm 
supporter of their cause. 

Dr. H. de Grood, one of the professors at the Groningen University; 
Dr. I. Van Velzen, secretary of the Synod ; Dr. R. Van der Loef, and 
Herr Schimmel, well-known authors, are names honourably identified with 
the advocacy of Spiritualism in Holland. Many other gentlemen, besides 
several ladies distinguished in literary and aristocratic circles, have been 
reported to the author as possessing fine Mediumistic gifts, or as being 



348 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

the advocates of Spiritualism in the seclusion of their own homes. 
Not having the privilege of citing these parties as avowed disciples of 
the belief, we can only cursorily refer to the fact that a far larger number 
of persons of position in Holland believe in Spiritualism, than those that 
are willing to incur reproach and public ridicule for its sake. The same 
may be said of the cause and its disciples in the Dutch Indies. 

When it is remembered that the oificial investigation detailed above, 
concerning the disturbances in Java, occurred nearly twenty years before 
the advent of Modern Spiritualism in America, it is no marvel that their 
cause was wholly misunderstood, and their possible significance disregarded 
both by the witnesses and the journalistic recorders. 

As SpirituaHsm in its modern sense began to be known, its phenomena 
discussed and practised in aristocratic circles, and its Mediums patronized 
by the leading classes of society, the tone of newspaper criticism became 
gradually changed, and even the counterfeit pretences of itinerant exposers, 
began to be regarded in their true light, namely, as an evidence that there 
must be something of genuine worth, to call forth the base imitation, also 
as a proof how desperate must be the cause of those who vehemently oppose 
Spiritualism, when they can find no better weapons wherewith to do battle 
against it than the tricks of poor conjurers. 

Spiritualism in Holland, as in every other great centre of civilization, 
seems to have done the work of ploughing, harrowing, and preparing the 
ground for the reception of the seeds of truth and Spiritual unfoldment. 

Thousands and tens of thousands of invisible hands have been busy in 
scattering that seed and pressing visible workers into the same beneficent 
service. 

Despite of man's impatience to reap the harvest before the seed has had 
time to germinate, the Spiritualists find themselves compelled to watch and 
wait for the natural development which time, and the favouring harvest 
seasonj alone can bring forth. 

Few there are however who feel that what has been done has been in 
vain. The marked change which public opinion displays on all subjects 
relating to Spiritual existence here or hereafter, is the best proof that the 
work of mortals has been to sow the seed as they have received commis- 
sion, and trust that the Lord of the Harvest will come in the fulness of 
time to do the rest. " Be thou faithful unto death," is the watchword which 
every true Spiritualist obeys, confident that the work well done on earth, is 
done for all eternity. 



" CHAPTER XLHI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN RUSSIA. 



Nothing can be more difficult to an uninformed observer than the attempt 
to ascertain the real status of the Spiritual cause in Russia. On the one 
hand, witnesses of acknowledged credit affirm, that Spirit Communion is a 
belief prevailing largely amongst both the ignorant peasantry and the highest 
nobles. In the rural districts it is alleged that every village entertains its 
pantheon of spectral agencies, whilst the Schamanns, or prophet priests of 




Professor Boutlerof. 
OF THE University of ST Petersburg 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 349 

Siberia, have proverbially obtained for their wonder-working powers a world- 
wide celebrity. Amongst the higher classes, one need but cite the well- 
known opinions of the noble gentleman who but lately ruled the land, 
Alexander IL, who — together with many princely members of his family — 
was known to have been a warm friend of Spirituahsm and Spiritualists. 

On the other hand, we are advised by those who claim to speak with 
authority, that Spiritualism has no open or public recognition in Russia, 
and that the only journal printed in its interest by a native Russian, is 
obliged to be published in the German language. The following statement 
lately given in the Reime Spirite of Paris, is also cited as an evidence of 
the ill odour in which subjects of an occult character are held in Russia. 
The Revue says : — 

" Professor Wagner has lately been giving a series of lectures in St. Petersburg on 
the subject of ' Animal Magnetism.' His audiences numbered about five or six hundred 
persons, the chief of whom were physicians, university students, or literary men. He 
had great difficulty in gaining permisssion to give these lectures, as they approached a 
subject which has been condemned alike by clerical and scientific authorities, the former 
attributing all psychical phenomena outside of the church to Satan, and the latter to 
physiological disturbance, to be rectified by orthodox medication. To gain his hearing 
Professor Wagner called animal magnetism by the less disagreeable name of ' hypnotism.' 
He quoted facts of history from ancient times dovs^n to the present, noticing the disco- 
veries of Van Helmont, Mesmer, Reichenbach, Dupotet, and others, not forgetting Braid, 
the introducer of the term hypnotism. Professor Wagner solved all the mysteries of the 
subject by introducing a psychic principle, not a resultant of the organism, but a force 
having individuality and consciousness, whose vehicle is the nerve fluid within the 
organism and the ether of space without. The lectures were well received, and were 
frequently interrupted by earnest applause. Professor Wagner concluded by recom- 
mending the constitution of a society for the investigation of psychical research." 

It is added as a comment on the covert form in which Wagner attempted 
to awaken interest in occult subjects, that the formation of any society for 
psychic investigation will be sternly prohibited. Undoubtedly there must 
be a median line between the two opposing views of the subject stated 
above. 

To arrive at this, we shall cite the opinions of some of the most reliable 
authorities who have written concerning Spiritualism in Russia, and the 
first quotations will be from letters addressed to the Revue Spirite, by 
Prince Adeka, of Russia. This gentleman, an accomplished scholar, a 
warm Spiritualist, and a member of the royal family of Russia, writes as 
follows : — 

"Spiritualism, as a doctrine, was introduced into Russia in 1854, by M. Boltine and 
some others who had witnessed Spiritual phenomena abroad, and had become acquainted 
with the works of Allan Kardec. These prepared the way for the visit of Mr. D. D. 
Home to Petersburgh about 1861. The wonderful manifestations through his medium- 
ship in the Imperial Palace, as well as in those of some of the Russian aristocracy, gave 
an impetus to inquiry, and this was strengthened by Mr. Home being received as son-in- 
law into a good Russian family. 

" Unhappily however, Russia not being yet in the enjoyment of a free press, the advo- 
cates of Spiritualism have had to keep in the background with the public. The State 
Church does not allow the publication, in the Russian language, of any books, pamphlets, 
or printed matter discussing it ; it is therefore only a sulaject of private discussion 
among those who know other languages besides that of their own country. 

" Russia has a penal code in Which any Russian who steps outside the pale of the Greco- 
Russian Church, or who attempts to teach doctrines contrary to it, is punishable by exile 
to Siberia. Such is the legal situation of the various sects in Russia. Happily, however, 
laws there are laxly observed. The dogmas of the State Church are by the mass of the 
people assented to chiefly as a means of keeping themselves clear of the police. But very 
many, as opportunity comes, throw aside the mask and join some sect ; and sects in 
Russia are numerous. 



3 so NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" Three years ago, M. Aksakof, who is editor of fthe Psychische Studien, which he, — a 
Russian of high position, socially and officially, must write in a foreign language and 
publish in a foreign country, — invited a good many scientific men attached to the 
University to witness a demonstration of some psychical phenomena, with the object of 
getting them to acknowledge their reality ; but nothing came of it. The gentlemen of 
science seemed to fear conversion from old opinions. . , . 

" But a few professors of the University did join M. Aksakof, and in 1880 the project 
of a society was drawn up, having for its object the study of psychic science, &c. To this 
project the authorisation of the Government was formally applied for, and would have 
been given had not the Church interposed on the ground that no science was wanted to 
prove the power of Satan, and that the Church needed no help in proclaiming the 
immortality of the soul. 

•' Spiritualists in Petersburg are necessarily of the educated classes only. They may 
be divided into two categories : 1, those, who accept the doctrine of Re-Incarnation, from 
having studied the works of Allan Kardec ; and 2, those who belong to the American or 
EngHsh school. M. Aksakof belongs to the second category, which occupies itself wioa 
experiments in mediumship and physical manifestations, without concerning itself with 
the question of Re-Incarnation. 

Besides these two categories there are very many individuals who, so k) speak, hang on 
to Spiritualism ; who go to seances as to an entertainment. There are also many others 
to whom Spiritualism is a demonstrated science, who study its doctrines and practise its 
morality. Many of these are foreign residents. 

" My remarks have had reference to Spiritualism as it is in the capital, but there is 
plenty of evidence that it is studied all through the provinces." 

Prince Adeka writes at a still later date, namely, April, 1882, to the 
Revue Spirite thus : — 

" Since my last communication upon the position of SpirituaUsm in Russia, it has 
evidently made favourable progress in the most influential quarters. The censorship has 

f'ven its sanction to the publication of a weekly paper, the editor of which is Captain 
erbikof, of the Imperial navy, who makes no secret of his being a Spiritualist. I may 
say that his wife is an excellent medium for physical manifestations. They belong to the 
school of Spiritualism which we here call the American, which does not concern itself 
about Re-Incarnation. The EeMs, for such is the title of the paper, has been out now 
for six months. Not wishing to jeopardise it, the editor hitherto has dealt, with 
Spiritualism only in an incidental way, having regard to the nominal interest of the 
paper, which is understood to be in the discussion of rebuses, charades, &c. It announces 
that the profits, if any, are to go to the funds of a benevolent institution founded last 
year by Madame Perbikof. This may have smoothed away some of the difficulties 
encountered by Captain Perbikof in obtaining the sanction to publish. It may also 
account for the fact that one-half of the subscribers to the paper belong to the clerical 
ranks. Whatever the reason, the fact is, under all circumstances, significant. 

"Here is another item of significance. The Novoe Vremya {The New Time), a news- 
paper of large circulation, is admitting a series of articles based upon R. Dale Owen's 
' Debateable Land.' These articles are, under the pseudonym of Poliansky, written by 
Professor Wagner, who is an earnest Spiritualist and close friend of the Academician 
Boutlerof, one of our most eminent savants. M. Wagner's articles are headed, ' Between 
Two Worlds.' Th(j censorship has used its scissors more freely than we like, but it is a 
welcome surprise to Spiritualists that it permits so much to appear in the Russian 
language. The articles are making quite a sensation among our rising young men. 

But I have yet another welcome piece of news for you ; the interdict against trans- 
lations of Allan Kardec's books into Russian has been removed so far as to allow the 
publication of his ' What is Spiritualism ? ' The MS. of the translation has passed the 
censorship, and is now passing through the printer's office. This gives great cause for 
congratulation, for nothing has hitherto been published in the Russian language having 
the least reference to the rational foundation of Spiritualism. The censorship cut out 
the second part, and insisted that Kardec's name should not appear, for that, it seems, 
would be too much for our ' Holy Synod ' to bear !" 

The next quotation is taken from the correspondence of Prince Emil 
Sayn Wittgenstein (late aide-de-camp, and trusted friend of the Emperor 
Alexander II.), and the author of this work. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 351 

In a private letter to Mrs. Hardinge Britten, dated 1876, Prince Emil 
Wittgenstein says : — 

" The Emperor and most of his household save ... are not only Spiritualists in 
belief, but they would be partisans of the faith, did circumstances permit. 

" Since Mr. D. D. Home's first visit in — I think— 1861, His Majesty has never doubted 
the truth of spirit communion, — and the rich presents and special favour he has bestowed 
on Mr. Home, is proof positive of the royal acceptance of his Mediumship. . , . The 
great enemy of Spiritualism in Eussia however is the Church. I think myself it should 
be the friend of this power, — for without it, the Church may say, but it cannot prove 
anything, and vdth it, it is built upon facts which no rival Church can disprove. . . . 
Perhaps you know that any writing, printing, or words spoken publicly, which offend 
against the articles of state reUgion, are punishable by the heaviest penalties — in some 
cases by exile to Siberia. 

" Sects may arise and do, but they are offshoots if not actually a part of the Church, — 
but as for Spiritualism — why, Great Heaven ! it loosens the chains of ecclesiastical 
tyranny ; breaks open the doors of the Inquisition, puts out its fires, or uses them to 
burn up priestly passports to heaven or hell, besides making of every one his own priest. 
Of course this won't suit the ecclesiastics who live by the people's slavery ; not their 
freedom, — hence, although Spiritualism is known and believed in, alike by peer and 
peasant, it must be believed in against authority, — and be assured, my friend, it has a 
warm place in the hearts of thousands whd dare not openly avow tbeir convictions." 

From similar friendly communications from Prince Emil Wittgenstein, 
the author learned that the late Emperor of Russia possessed the most 
complete library of Spiritual works that the literature of many nations 
could supply. This noble gentleman was one of the earliest subscribers to 
a work translated and edited by the author, entitled " Art Magic," and 
in an autograph letter addressed to the writer of that work, he declared, 
" that he esteemed it as his most sacred authority, and carried it everywhere 
with him." 

Thus, although Spiritualism has obtained wide recognition in Russia in 
the hearts and consciences of the thinking classes, its denunciation as a 
revolutionist, by the Church-ridden members of the community, is quite 
sufficient to account for the paucity of its literature in the language of the 
country. 

It may not be out of place at this point, to give a few extracts from 
Mr. Home's autobiography — " Incidents of My Life," in reference to his 
first introduction at the Russian Court. In order to fulfil his marriage 
contract with the fair Russian lady who subsequently became his first wife, 
Mr. Home left Paris for St. Petersburg in company with M. Alexandre 
Dumas, the celebrated novelist, who had promised to officiate as godfather 
on the occasion. 

Mr. Home says (p. 128) : — 

" An amusing account of our journey may be read in Dumas' book, entitled ' De Paris 
k Astrachan.' 

" On reaching St._ Petersburg, I was. honoured by a kind invitation to be received by 
the Emperor, but which I was obHged to decline, not being in power at the time, and his 
Majesty having most graciously sent to me to say, that under any circumstances he would 
be pleased to see me, I excused myself on the plea of having so much to attend, previous 
to my marriage. A month after this, certain difficulties having arisen, and the papers 
which were necessary not being forthcoming, the marriage seemed on the point of being 
postponed. 

" I had had no manifestations for several months, but on this evening^ I was told by 
the spirit of my mother to inform the Emperor the next day that my power had 
returned. 

" I did 80, and was received by his Majesty at the Palace at Peterhoff, where I spent 
a week, and all the obstacles in the way of my marriage wete removed by his most 



352 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

gracious Majesty, who upon this, as upon every occasion, has shown me the greatest 
kindness. I have the highest veneration for him, not only as a monarch, but as a man of 
the most kind and generous feelings." 

In the following chapter Mr. Home gives some interesting details of his 
manifestations whilst residing in Russia, up to the time when his eldest 
child was born ; one remark is so pertinent to the diverse opinions that are 
afloat concerning the appearance of materialized hands, that we quote 
Mr. Home's words i)i extenso. He says (p. 132), — "One evening one of 
my friends was converted from his previous unbelief, by seeing a hand 
visible to all of us in the room, slowly forming in the air, a few inches 
above the table, until it assumed the apparent materiality of a real hand." 
This hand — apparently that of a female — took up a pencil from the taljle 
and wrote a communication which deeply affected Mr. Home's visitor, who 
recognized it as being from his mother. Mr. Home adds — " The general 
belief is, that spirit hands always appear from beneath the table, already 
fo7-med, — but this is incorrect, for on many occasions in the presence of 
several persons at a time, they are seen to be formed in the manner I have 
described, and to melt away in the same way. Often too they have been 
seen to form high above our heads, and from thence to descend to the table 
and disappear." 

As Spiritualism in Russia owes its status entirely to the individuals who 
have aided in its promulgation, and the history of their personal efforts is 
that of the movement also, we shall now call attention to the self-sacrificing 
and influential labours of a gentleman to whom the cause of Spiritualism is 
more indebted than to any other person in Northern Europe — namely, the 
Hon. Alexander Aksakof, the talented editor of the monthly magazine 
published at Leipsig, devoted to the interests of Spiritualism and entitled — 
Psychische Studien. 

As it would be impossible to arrive at a just estimate of Spiritual progress 
in Russia without including the effect of the vast influence exerted by the 
indefatigable efforts and high social standing of M. Aksakof, the following 
brief extracts concerning this gentleman's life and labours, taken from a 
sketch written for the Religio Philosophical Journal of America by Mr. 
Hudson Tuttle, cannot but prove of interest to the reader. 

Mr. Tuttle's article was written in 1881, and headed — 

"spiritualism in RUSSIA. 

"Alexander Aksakof, the Pioneer Spiritualist of Eussia, 

" To American — and we may add English Spiritualists as well, the name which stands 
at the head of this article is familiar, and all who know something of the unwearied 
efforts of this eminent man to bring to Europe the knowledge of Spiritualism. . . . 
We have noble and devoted Spiritualists in America, but none who can exceed him. He 
has counted rank and position as nothing, and without a thought, has sacrificed his 
health, feeling more than repaid, if the cause he loved prospered, and bestowed on others 
the happiness he had found. 

" Alexander Aksakof was born in the year 1832 at Repiofka, an estate the property of 
his father in the government of Penza, Russia. After completing his course of studies 
at the Imperial Lyceum of St. Petersburg, an institution privileged to the ancient nobility 
of Russia, he entered the service of the government, in which with but httle interruption 
he has remained to the present." 

Mr. Tuttle then goes on to notice in detail too diffuse for this place, how 
M. Aksakof, from becoming acquainted with the writings of Swedenborg, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



353 



gradually began to study them with an interest so profound, that in course 
of time they took a deep and permanent hold upon his mind. 

After describing at length the earnestness with which M. Aksakof studied 
the Hebrew and Latin languages, the better to qualify himself for following 
Swedenborg through his wonderful doctrine of correspondences, the 
biographer says : — 

" The grand design to which all his studies converged, philological and theological, 
was the translation of Swedenborg's ' Heaven and Hell ' into the Russian language. In 
1863, his translation of this work was published in Leipzig, but is compelled to wait for 
more propitious times for its appearance in Eussia. 

" Swedenborg being the greatest of seers, it was natural that M. Aksakof should take 
up the study of animal magnetism, and enjoy all works on spiritual revelations obtained in 
this manner, agreeing, as they all did, in essential points with Swedenborg. In 1854, 
while searching the libraries, he came unexpectedly on ' Nature's Divine Revelations,' by 
A. J. Davis. The title did not attract his attention, but the qualification of the author — 
' The Seer and Clairvoyant' — at once impressed him. He was rejoiced to find most 
remarkable proofs of the principal points in the revelation of Swedenborg concerning the 
Spirit world. These authors differed in dogmas concerning Christianity, it was true, 
while they agreed in the great facts of Spirit existence. 

" In order to form a correct judgment of both physiological and psychological pheno- 
mena, M. Aksakof at once saw the necessity of a better understanding of the exact 
sciences ; the perfect comprehension of the spiritual man, necessitated the understanding 
of man physically. With this object in view, in 1855, he inscribed himself as free 
student of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Moscow, and for two years 
pursued the studies of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and physics. He soon departed 
from the restraints imposed by scientific authority, the result of his experiments in 
human magnetism being a translation into Russian, and publication in St. Petersburg, 
in 1863, of Count Szapary's work entitled, ' Magnetic Healing.' 

" He readily comprehended in all their bearings, the accounts he received of ' Spiritual 
Manifestations ' in America. The first book on that subject, which reached him was 
Beechers's 'Review of Spiritual Manifestations,' in 1855. He there received palpable 
evidence of the truth of the grand doctrine he had accepted by intuition. This, with 
the French works on magnetism, gave him the first information of the spiritual move- 
ment in America, and, with his accustomed habit, he at once sought all works treating 
on the subject ; but found in Russia, great difficulty in procuring them. Not until the 
end of 1857, did he obtain the works of Edmonds, Hare, and the ' Gt. Harmonia ' of 
Davis. 

" He studied with particular attention the works on magnetism and spiritualism of 
Cahagnet, whom, in 1861, he met in Paris. The perusal of the consecutive volumes of 
Davis, and the grand works on Spirituahsm, completed the emancipation of his mind. . . . 

'"The following is an extract from M. Aksakof 's preface to the translation of 
Swedenborg : — 

" ' The theological works of Swedenborg have engendered a sect — a common occurrence, 
and unfortunate for the transmission of great ideas — so much does man love the " jurare 
in verba magistri." Notwithstanding all the spirituality and broadness of his philosophy, 
his disciples rest with the letter ; astounded by the immensity of his revelations they 
will not go farther ; for them it is not a step advancing to higher altitudes, but, a finality. 
In the present work the theologico-dogmatic side is not presented, but the more important 
information given by Swedenborg in regard to his personal experience in the spirit- 
world ; for us he is not a theologian, but a seer and medium.' 

" This preface drew on M. Aksakof from the little circle of devotees to the doctrines 
of Swedenborg — of whom he had been a member — the most violent recriminations. He 
was thus compelled most exphcitly to give the reasons for his apostacy. The result of 
this discussion was the publication of ' The Rationalism of Swedenborg : a criticism of his 
doctrines on the Bible. Leipsic, 1870.' To this work was attached as an appendix, ' The 
Gospel according to Swedenborg, five chapters of the Gospel of St. John, and an 
exposition of their Spiritual Sense according to the Doctrine of Correspondences.' . . . 

" With all his studies of Swedenborg M. Aksakof did not cease to investigate the 
fundamental principles of religion and psychology. One thuig he regarded as incontestable, 
that if the mystery which shrouds the human soul was ever penetrated, and the fact oi 
individual immortality admitted by science, it must be by the study of the phenomena 
of Spiritualism. 

" The works of Kardec began to penetrate Russia, and although in a foreign language 
they had a wide circulation. 
23 



354 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



" M. Aksakof wished to give his countrymen something more positive. The material- 
istic tendency of the age led him to place a higher value on facts. With this object he 
translated Professor Hare's work and published it in Leipzig in 1866. Through this 
means he discovered the translator of Davis's works, Herr Wittig, who at the prompting 
of the eminent naturalist and philosopher Von Esenbeck, had translated many of Davis's 
works though he had not yet found a publisher. 

" The impossibility of promoting Spiritualism in his own country induced M. Aksakof 
to oflfer M. Wittig to publish some of his translations, and thus began his efforts to 
propagate Spiritualism in Germany." 

Mr. Tuttle then gives a list of the works published at various times as 
follows: — Davis's "Reformer," "The Magic Staff/' "Nature's Divine 
Revelations," " The Physician" — the principal works of Hare, Crookes, 
Edmonds, and Owen, and the " Report of the Dialectical Society." 

In 1874 M. Aksakof commenced — in addition to all his other magnificent 
undertakings of a literary character — the publication of the admirable 
monthly magazine, the PsycJiische Studien, a work which still continues to 
hold its place as one of the finest periodicals devoted to psychological 
subjects. 

M. Aksakof experienced no obstruction from the Russian censor in 
promulgating Spiritualism through works or journals, in the German 
language, and thus it was that he attracted attention from Mr. Yowskevitch, 
an ardent Spiritualist and a great admirer of Davis's writings. This gen- 
tleman was Professor of Philosophy in the University of Moscow, and he 
was fearless and candid enough to proclaim his convictions in public as 
well as in private, and urge the importance of investigating psychological 
subjects to his colleagues in the university. 

When this brave and noble gentleman departed from this sphere to the 
higher life, M. Aksakof paid a well-deserved tribute to his memory in an 
article published in the Revue Ricsse in 1876, under the title of " Medium- 
ship and Science." Continuing Mr. Tuttle's narrative, we find that — 

"In 1870, M. Aksakof proposed to M. Boutlerof, Professor of Chemistry in the 
University of St. Petersburg — whose sister-in-law, the cousin of M. Aksakof, manifested 
some degree of mediumship — to form a circle for the investigation of Spiritualism in 
an experimental manner. The circle included the Professor, his sister-in-law, Madame 
Aksakof, who was endowed with remarkable mediumistic power, and M. Aksakof. The 
result of twenty seances attended by M. Boutlerof was the admission by him of the reality 
of the phenomena. 

"In 1871 Mr. D. D. Home arrived at St. Petersburg. For the first time in his life 
did M. Aksakof obtain evidence of grand and beautiful Spiritual manifestations. . . . 
He was not tardy in furnishing M. Boutlerof with an opportunity to assist at similar 
seances, and one seance by Mr. Home to the professors of the University of St. Petersburg. 

"When Mr. Crookes published his experiences in the Quarterly Journal of Science, 
M. Aksakof immediately translated them, and after long weary years of waiting, had the 
pleasure of presenting the Kussian public with the iirst book on Spiritualism, entitled 
' Spiritualism and Science.' 

" In 1874 a zealous Prussian Spiritualist, M. Lyof, engaged M. Bredif, a French medium, 
to visit St. Petersburg. M. Aksakof arranged weekly seances for himself, to which Pro- 
fessor Boutlerof invited his friend and colleague Professor Wagner to participate. After 
some mouths Professor Wagner, impelled by the force of evidence, opened the campaign 
by his celebrated letter, published in the April number (1875) of the Revue de L'Europe, 
one of the best class of Russian monthlies. 

" Great offence was taken by the press, and the University, which impelled the Society 
Physique to nominate a committee to investigate the phenomena of mediumship. 

" The honour of the nomination of the first committee, strictly scientific, for the 
investigation of this question, belongs to Russia. This committee, fully confiding in the 
abiUty of M. Aksakof, invited him to make the necessary arrangements for them. He 
was thus made to act, somewhat, the role of Dr. Gardner before the famous Harvard 
committee ; only far more difiicult, on account of the total absence of mediums, proper 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



355 



to bring before such a body. He visited England in the autumn of 1875, but was not 
fortunate in finding mediums whom he considered sufficiently remarkable and reliable. 

"Hearing, however, favourable reports of the mediumship of the Petty family at 
Newcastle-on-Tyne — the manifestations occurring behind a pendant curtain, in front of 
which the mediums were seated — he visited the family, and liis experiences were so 
satisfactory that he engaged the father and two sons. Unfortunately — by the change of 
conditions and the absence of the mother, who was the principal medium — the 
mediumistic forces were not sufficiently powerful to produce any result. After four 
siances, M. Aksakof, seeing the hopelessness of the attempt, discontinued the seances and 
returned the medium's. He then engaged an English lady, with remarkable mediumistic 
faculties, and offered her services to the committee. T.iis, lady, not being a professional 
medium, desired to remain unknown, and she was presented to the committee under the 
name of Mrs. Clayer. Mr. Crookes, on pages 38-39 of his 'Researches' relates his ex- 
periences with this lady ; at his residence, M. Aksakof had the pleasure of making her 
acquaintance. The production of the physical manifestations in the plain light wholly 
answered his expectations, and he at last thought that the necessary medium for 
presentation to the committee had been found. She, at first, declined the offer, but 
yielded to his urgent solicitation, and arrived in St. Petersburg in mid-winter, accom- 
panied by her two daughters, whom she would not trust to the hands of strangers. This 
was a most meritorious act, one which the history of Spiritualism in general, and 
Spiritualism in Russia, in particular, should not ignore. 

" The second series of official seances commenced, before the committee, in January, 
1876. The manifestations began at the first seance. The rappings were plain and 
distinct, and of the same character as those which first arrested the attention of the 
world, at Rochester, in 1848, in the presence of the Fox family, and witnessed in London, 
by M. Aksakof, at the home of Mrs. Kate Fox-Jencken. The tipping and levitation of 
the table were also produced before the committee, being everything he expected for the 
commencement. Professor Boutlerof, and M. Aksakof, attended these seances for 
the purpose of witnessing the procedures, and being near the medium ; but alas ! in 
this case, from the beginning, instead of impartial scientific investigation, the committee 
were determined to prove that phenomena of mediumship had no existence. Their action 
put to shame even the methods of the Harvard committee. The medium, in the words of 
the judges — who had passed judgment before they met at the first seance — -made all the 
manifestations, and Professor Mendeleyef, one of the principal personages of the com- 
mittee, declared that the medium had an instrument, concealed by her skirts, to which 
she resorted. Thus terminated the scientific history of Spiritualism in Russia. 

" Awaiting the report of the committee, M. Aksakof continued his negotiations with 
different mediums, which resulted in bringing Dr. Slade from London to St. Petersburg, 
in December, 1878 ; but when he arrived, the committee had ceased to exist, and Russia 
was engaged in war with Turkey. The public mind was occupied with other subjects. 
Although Slade's visit to St. Petersburg was not as productive as it might have been, his 
sojourn in Germany and its results form a memorable epoch in the history of Spiritualism. 
The experiences of Professor Zollner, and many other celebrated men of science with 
him were most marvellous, and are already known round the world. . , . This 
success fully repaid M. Aksakof for all the sacrifice he had made in Russia, and the long 
and patient labours by which he had prepared the way in Germany for this gratifying 
result. 

" When we consider the great efforts of Professor Zollner ; the advocacy of Professors 
Perty, of Berne, Hoffman, of Wurzhurg, and of Fichte, who not only publicly defended 
the phenomena, but also the doctrines of Spiritualism, we feel that M. Aksakof must 
enjoy a deep satisfaction in a result to which he has, more than any one else, contributed. 

" After having completed his work with the committee, M. Aksakof demanded, in 
1876, permission to publish in St. Petersburg a Russian monthly journal, A Review of 
Mediumship. This was refused by the Minister of the Interior, Timaschef. 

" M. Aksakof was not idle, but prepared a reply to the report of M. Mendeleyef entitled 
' Materials by which to judge Spiritualism,' a mass of ironical commentaries in which he 
ridiculed Spiritualism in general, and his colleagues — Professors Boutlerof, Wagner, 
and M. Aksakof — in particular. On the appearance of this document, M. Aksakof — 
taking into consideration the bad spirit in which the investigation was conducted — 
prepared a reply under the title : * A Monument of Scientific Prejudice.'" 

Thus far Mr. Hudson Tattle ; and it may be quite worth while to 
compare the noble record of literary labour undertaken in -the interests of 
Spiritualism as thus narrated with the simple unaffected account which 
Mr. Aksakof gives of his own share in Spiritual propagandism in a paper 



356 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

prepared by him to be read at the English International Conference of 
1869. This paper was admirably translated by Signor Damiani, a well- 
known and scholarly Italian gentleman now residing in London, and pub- 
lished in Human Nature, from the columns of which are selected the 
following extracts : — 

" As a representative of Eussia I ought to give to you a few words concerning the state 
of SpirituaUsm in my country. There it is known by the name of Spiritism, because it 
reached us through the works of Allan Kardec, who has systematised and made that 
doctrine popular in France, and who has given it this name in order to distinguish it 
from that which is generally comprehended under the denomination of Spiritualism. Its 
followers call themselves, regardless of all etymological rules, Spirites, instead of Spiritists. 
Their number in Russia, or rather in the two centres of our civilisation, Moscow and 
St. Petersburg, can only be counted by dozens ; they certainly would have been more 
considerable if we were not deprived of the means offered by the press to express publicly 
our opinions on this subject. One of the most zealous representatives of Spiritualism at 
St. Petersburg is General Apollon Boltin. He has translated into the Russian language 
the principal works of Kardec, and has, besides, written much himself upon this matter, 
but has not had the privilege of being able to print his works. Among the co-operators of 
the Revue Spirite we have here General Foelkner, whose translation of the ' Letters of 
Lavater to the Empress Marie of Russia,' was published at Paris at the International 
Library, and also M. H. Stecki, who published at the same library an essay entitled 
'Spiritism in the Bible,' We have here, as well as at Moscow, several writing mediums 
and others, but as to physical manifestations, we are quite wanting in them. By way of 
recompense however, we have at Moscow, in the person of M. Artemovsky, a very good 
healing medium. "What seems extraordinary to us is, that he holda his sSances publicly, 
having had the good luck to receive permission from the authorities. Some mediums 
here, whose curing functions had commenced to attract sick people to them in crowds, 
did not meet with the same success ; the police interfered, and these gentlemen were 
obliged to confine themselves to practising in private. 

" Regarding our Spiritism from within, I do not see enough union among its followers, 
without which no doctrine can become a social and reforming power. If we are going to 
seek the causes of this disunion, we shall find it in the two following facts : — In the first 
place stands the onesided study of the subject, inevitable in consequence of its being 
derived from the one source — the works of Allen Kardec and his Review — a partiality 
excusable for the Russians, who generally know French and not English, and in conse- 
quence imitate the intellectual movement of Europe by the production of French 
literature ; but wholly inexcusable for Kardec, who holds his lectures exclusively within 
the limits of his circle, and not only ignores that which is done out of France, but ignores 
even, or feigns to ignore, what is done in France by that circle of Spiritualists whose organ 
is the Revue Spiritualiste, by Pierart. 

" This pretence of ignoring is carried to such a point that M. Kardec, whilst 
announcing upon the wrapper of his review the Spiritualistic periodicals appearing in 
Germany and Italy, does not even mention M. Pierart's journal, and this for the reason 
that the Spiritualists do not accept the doctrine of re-incarnation, as if the source from 
whence Kardec had derived his system had been another and more authentic one than 
that of Pierart. Thus it is that dogmatism, that eternal source of discord in religion, 
threatens to invade Spiritualism, one of whose principal merits is having avoided the rock 
of sectarianism and not having wished to form a written and obligatory confession of 
faith. . . . 

" In the second place we are disunited and weak because we are deprived of liberty of 
speech and denied any representation through the press. . . . 

" The civil censor has received special instructions not to let anything appear that 
relates to Spiritualism. 

" ' A fool throws a stone,' says the proverb, ' and seven wise men cannot recover 
it.' ... 

" Allow me to tell you a few words about myself in particular. Desiring to make the 
Russian public acquainted with the phenomena of Spiritualism, I had chosen for that 
purpose the work of Professor Hare, and I had extracted that which principally related to 
the experimental part of the question. But the censor remained inexorable, and I have been 
obliged to have my translation printed at Leipzig, where it remains buried in the ware- 
house of M. Wagner, suffering the same fate as a Russian translation of Swedenborg's ( 
work ' Heaven and Hell,' which I had printed some years before. That our learned men 
are not behind yours in their contempt for Spiritualism I can show by the following 
example : — We have at the University here a Professor of Logic and Psychology in theperson 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 357 

of M. Vkdislavef — translator into Eussian of Kant's Critique de la Eaison Pure, author of 
Doctrines Psychologiques Contemporaines, Sec, &c. Wishing to direct his attention to the 
psychological phenomena of Spiritualism, I gave him my Russian translation of Hare, 
some numbers of Suvian Nature, and the autobiography of A. J. Davis in German. 
Reading this enraged him so much that he could hardly speak. ' All that is only 
detestable humbug,' he said to me ; ' Davis is an impudent man, Hare an unknown 
person. When I read it I believed I was in a tavern.' This reply deserving immortaUty, 
I record it 

" How much we are restrained in our literary pursuits, I can again show you by the 
following anecdote : — 

" Lately I have been occupied in writing a critique on Swedenborg's ' Doctrine of the 
Scriptures.' When I had presented my manuscript to the spiritual reviser he sent me to 
the civil reviser, because I do not examine Swedenborg's system from an orthodox point 
of view, but only from the logical side, like all other philosophical systems ; and when I 
gave my manuscript to the civil reviser, he sent me to the spiritual censor, because my 
work, from the first page to the last, only treated of Holy Scripture. 

" Convinced by my own experience and that of others, of the impossibility of serving, 
at least for the present, the cause of SpirituaHsm in my own country, I found I had 
nothing better to do than to transport my activity to a foreign land. In 1863 I learnt 
for the first time that a German translation of the works of A. J. Davis had been under- 
taken by Mr. Von Esenbeck and his associate Mr. Wittig; but all my attempts at 
having more information about this enterprise were fruitless until 1866, when I had the 
pleasure of becoming personally acquainted with Mr. Wittig, and the displeasure of 
learning aU the difficulties he met with during the publication of his translations. I 
then offered to become the editor of them, and immediately we set ourselves to the task. 
In 1867 appeared ' The Reformer," in 1868 ' The Magic Stafi",' and in 1869 ' The Divine 
Revelations,' printed by Mr. Wagner at Leipsic. It might appear strange to have 
commenced the publication of ' The Reformer,' without following the chronological order, 
upon which Davis himself insisted ; but it is because nearly all the manuscripts were at 
Bremen with Mr. Ruthman, who had begun talking about their publication, without 
having, however, caused the enterprise to advance during many years. This is why we 
commenced by that which was ready at Mr. Wittig's, It is only lately that we have 
obtained, not without trouble and expense, possession of the manuscripts, and henceforth 
their pubKcation can be re-estabhshed in chronological order. What reception the 
German public will give them, the future alone can decide. The prejudice of German 
science against animal magnetism and Spiritualism, and its materiahstic tendencies, are, at 
present, too strong for us to expect a serious and impartial critique. On the other hand, 
silence still less attains our end, and our first duty is to extricate the public from the 
ignorance in which they live as to the real value of modern Spiritualism. To attain this 
result, the works of Davis appear to me the most suitable. Germany requires a philo- 
sophical system, which should be in a state to present not only an accordance of facts 
with a given doctrine, but even with the exigencies of actual science. From this point 
of view the harmonial philosophy has appeared to me worthy of the attention of German 
thinkers. Many persons, knowing the works of Davis, have expressed sympathy with 
their publication in Germany. Thus, one of the best known and most respectable 
followers of spiritualism in America, Judge Edmonds, in a letter that he wrote me in 
March, 1869, expresses himself on this matter in the following manner : — ' In one respect 
A. J. Davis and I differ ; he looks upon Spiritualism rather as a philosophy, while I regard 
it as a rehgion. Therefore it is that his works must be more valuable in Germany than 
mine can be. With us and our impulsive nature the religious aspect is the most 
important ; in Germany the rationalistic must be.' As a psychological phenomenon, the 
person of Davis offers us one of the most remarkable types of the modern spiritualistic 
movement, and under this head deserves to be deeply studied. In the German edition 
of his ' Principles of Nature,' I made it a duty to collect all the proofs which had come to 
my own knowledge to establish the mesmeric origin of this work, and the further 
self-development of Davis, by way of pure intuition, like an incontestable psychological 
fact. , . ." 

We can only regret that the limitations of space preclude the possibility 
of giving more of M. Aksakof s philosophic and interesting comments on 
the cause he has served so well. Enough has been stated however to 
show the importance Of the work which one individual alone can effect, 
when animated by devotion to a noble cause, and inspired by the love of 
humanity rather than the desire for fame, or self-aggrandisement. 



3^58 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 

Just as this volume is going to press, we hear that M. Aksakoi's promised 
work has been produced, under the title of " A Monument of Scientific 
Prejudice — being {a history of the committee appointed by the Physical Society 
of the U?iiverslty of St. Petersbiirgh for the Investigation of so-called Mediutn- 
istlc phenomena, with all the minutes of the pj'oceedlngs and other remarks P 

The volume above named has not only passed through the press, but 
portions of it have been freely commented on by the English and German 
Spiritual press, and it is quite evident, that though the reader may form some 
fair conclusions concerning the action of that committee which pledged 
itself to \io\6. forty Spiritual seances, and dismissed the subject after rushing 
through eight, they can form bat httle notion without reading M. Aksakof's 
work, of the noble, manly, and philosophic way in which the accomplished 
writer has dealt with his subject. Another sign of the times, and one which 
promises hopefully for the progress of psychological science in Russia, is 
the fact, that the same indomitable and devoted worker, Alexander Aksakof 
is even now pubhshing in the Russian language (! !) a translation from the 
German of Baron Lazarus Hellenbach's works, in which — as every scholar 
acquainted with this great philosopher's writings must know — Spiritual 
ideas and teachings play a distinguished part. Truly hberty of thought and 
speech has "moved on" in Russia even within the last decade of months, 
and the noble triad of Freedom's standard-bearers, Aksakof, Boutlerof, and 
Wagner, may yet tread with mortal feet the promised land of Spiritual life 
and light, to which their untiring efforts have helped to conduct the long 
enslaved consciences of their countrymen. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN RUSSIA (CONCLUDED). 

Before dismissing the subject of " the Russian scientific commission," for 
the investigation on Spiritualism, instituted chiefly at the suggestion of the 
Hon. Alexander Aksakof, and reported upon most unfavourably by M. 
Mendeleyef, it may serve the interests of truth as well as justice to repubUsh 
"the protest which answered the said report. The reader is particularly 
urged to notice what conditions the " scientific commission " was pledged to 
observe, and how far the pledge was not redeemed. The protest was 
published in the Journal de St. Petersbtu'g of May i8th, 1877, and was 
signed by one hundred and thirty names of influential persons. 
It reads as follows in translation : — 

" The Scientific Committee formed for ttie examination of medial phenomena had for 
its object, if we may judge by a communication from M. Mendeleyef, published in La Voix, 
No. 137, ' to study with precision ' these phenomena, and to ' render also important public 
service.' M. Mendeleyef informs us that at the sittings the following phenomena were to 
be the immediate objects for study on the part of the commission : — ' The movement of 
inanimate objects produced without contact with human hands ; the floating of these 
objects in the air ; variations in the weight of objects ; movements or noises produced in 
the said objects, and having the character of being governed by intelligence, as exemplified 
by the giving of messages or the answering of questions ; writing by inanimate objects, 
or psychographic phenomena ; lastly, the complete or partial presentation of human 
bodies, or, in other words, materialization phenomena.' 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 359 

" The committee promised to hold at least forty stances to study these various pheno- 
nomena. To-day the committee declares that its investigations are at an end, that ' its 
object has been attained,' and that it has arrived unanimously at the following conclusions : 
' That Spiritualistic phenomena are the result of unconscious movements or of conscious 
imposture, and that the doctrine of Spiritualism is a superstition.' 

" This decision of the committee is based — as stated in its report — upon eight seances. 
in the iirst four of which no medial phenomena were obtained, and in the last four of 
which the committee saw several movements of the table and heard several raps. But 
where are the observations of the committee upon the movement of objects without 
contact with the hands ; on the change of the weight of bodies ; on conversational pheno- 
mena ; and on psychographic and materialization manifestations ? 

" The committee has not carried out, it will be seen, a quarter of the programme wliich 
it had laid down for itself, but it has decided, without any evidence in that direction, 
against the spiritual ' doctrine ; ' a question which had never been placed in its programme 
for consideration. The undersigned think it their duty to declare that, by an examination 
so superficial and so rapid, the object of the researches of the committee has not been 
attained, and that the committee has not fulfilled its task. It is evident that it has not 
collected enough information either to affirm or to deny the existence of the medial 
phenomena. After it had sat out eight seances, the committee did not hesitate to declare 
that its observations were at an end, although it had no right, upon the evidence 
collected during those eight seances, to come to any absolute decision. The committee 
undertook its examination in the name of the interests of a portion of the public, and it 
has failed to guard those interests. It has left the public in the same doubt as before in 
relation to these medial phenomena, which are so well attested by people of influence and 
of good faith. 

" The undersigned, consequently, think that they have a right to express the hope 
that the examination of medial phenomena, which has been begun in the name of science, 
will be continued in harmony with the usual methods of science, and not by persons who 
have even given a verdict against that which they have not seen — against phenomena 
which have been verified by others after long and minute study. It is not by a partial 
examination like this that an ' important public service ' can be rendered. ..." 

Then follow the signatures of one hundred and thirty Russian names, the 
transcription and reading of which would scarcely repay either author or 
reader. 

As a sort of corollary to this report, and in evidence first; that each Spiritual 
seajice should, be studied on its ozcjji me^'its, and not on the report of previous 
occasions ; next, that nothing but long-continued and patient investigation 
can discover the procedures of a movement so ill understood as that of 
Spirit communion ; and finall}^, that the most candid and unprejudiced 
frame of mind is necessary to the elucidation of truth in the matter of 
Spiritual phenomena — we shall republish the particulars of some seances 
held by Messrs. Boutlerof and Aksakof with the English Medium Williams ; 
so often accused of " fraudulent practices," and yet, so inevitably endowed 
with rare Mediumistic power. 

The article which follows was published in M. Aksakofs fine journal 
Psychische Shidien, and has been extensively recopied in other Spiritual 
papers. It is headed 

"spiritualism in RUSSIA — EXPERIENCES OF PROFESSOR BOUTLEROF. 

" After describing the room (an ordinary hotel apartment without cupboard or 
wardrobe), M. Boutlerof says : — 

" ' I will not describe every seance in detail, but will relate only the most striking 
manifestations. While we sat at the table, holding Williams fast, various objects were 
brought to us from a chest of drawers in the room, which stood behind Williams, at a 
distance of about four feet, Williams remaining meanwhile immovable. Even if he had 
had his hands free, the objects would have been beyond his reach. At the first sitting 
M. Aksakof and myself were both touched on the face with something soft. This, as we 
afterwards learned, was M. Aksakofs silk scarf, which was lying in his hat on the drawers, 
and had been brought to us with the hat. Immediately afterwards the hat itself was 



36o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 

crushed down on M. Aksakof's head, and then, at my expressed wish, also 
placed upon my head. At another sitting, we being all in the same position 
as before, a musical box, which was playing on the table, was raised in the air, and wafted 
to and fro, as we could tell distinctly by the sound. Presently the box was placed for a 
moment on my right shoulder, next to Williams, while I still contiaued to hold him fast. 
Another time various articles were brought, and placed upon our table or in our hands, 
such as a match-box, which was also opened, a clothes brush and a travelling strap. 

" ' When Williams was placed bound in the cabinet, or rather behind my plaid, which 
was suspended like a curtain, the phenomena were more powerful, especially at the two 
last seances. As we sat at the table we heard the voices of Peter and of John King, This 
latter personage is a well-known apparition at Williams's circles, and manifests both 
audibly and visibly. Peter's voice is quite different from that of King, who speaks in a 
deep bass and very quickly. These voices suggested that we should have a cabinet seance. 
We lighted a candle for a few minutes, while Williams placed himself behind the curtain. 
In these last sittings we screwed an iron staple into the wall ; a long tape was fastened 
round the medium's neck, and another piece was passed three times round the wrists, 
which were drawn together and securely tied. The long ends of both tapes were then 
threaded through the iron staple, and drawn across to our table, where I held them all 
through the sitting with my left hand. After each sitting the tapes were found intact 
throughout their length ; and I was able, while holding the tapes, to feel the slightest 
motion on the part of the medium. Only at the beginning did Williams draw in his 
hands a little, apparently as he was passing into the mediumistic sleep. Later on, while 
the phenomena were taking place, he did not stir in the slightest degree. We sat at the 
table, on the side furthest from the cabinet, with our faces turned towards it, at a 
distance of about three feet from the curtain. 

" I will relate a few characteristic occurrences of the last sitting. After the light was 
put out, we again heard the voices of Peter and John. These voicss appeared to come 
from various parts of the room ; at one moment they were close to us, at another further 
off, and often on the side opposite to that on which the medium sat. Presently phos- 
phorescent lights were floating in the air, and immediately the form of John King became 
visible. This apparition is accompanied by a greenish phosphorescent light, which 
increases in brightness, lighting up John's bust. It is then seen that this light comes 
from a luminous substance which the form holds in its hand. The manly face, with a 
thick black beard, is tolerably distinct ; the head is draped with a white turban, and the 
upper part of the body mth white garments. The form was outside the cabinet, and 
near to us. We only saw it for a moment at a time, the light vanished, and the form 
retreated into the darkness, but reappeared again as quickly. John asked us what he 
should do for us. M. Aksakof begged that he would rise to the cleiling and say a few 
words to us in that position. Accordingly we saw the form appear just over our table, 
and then gradually rise upwards to the ceiling, which became visible in the light pro- 
ceeding from the luminous object in the hand of the figure. While up there, John called 
out to us—' Will that do ? ' {1st es so recht ?) 

" Peter, in the meantime, although invisible, was busy and loquacious in the darkness, 
moving various objects through the air and touching us with them. As before mentioned, 
we sat on the side of the table furthest from the curtain ; behind our backs, about four 
feet distant, stood the washstand, on which were a water-bottle and glass. Suddenly we 
heard the ringing of glasses over our heads, as if two pieces were being struck together. 
Then followed a rapid pouring of water into the glass ; the glass was handed to 
M. Aksakof, the bottle to myself. As it stood in my hand, I felt sensibly that another 
hand was holding it above. At this moment we heard the medium move and groan, and 
the voice of Peter exclaiming that he wanted to give ' his medium ' something to drink. 
The water-bottle floated away from my hand, we heard the movement and inarticulate 
murmuring of the awakening medium, mingled with the voice of Peter : then the 
gurgling of water from the bottle, and in another instant I received the bottle back into 
my hand. During all that I have described, and indeed throughout the sitting, we were 
satisfied — so far as our hearing could perceive — that Williams remained in his corner, 
while the voices of John and Peter were speaking near to us outside the cabinet ; occasionally 
also the sounds proceeding from the medium, and the speaking of John and Peter, were 
almost simultaneous. 

" In conclusion let me remark that it is quite natural if other Russian inquirers 
regard these phenomena with suspicion. Owing to the scarcity of mediums in our 
country they have had at present few opportunities of observing them ; nevertheless they 
have not held back altogether, but took up the investigation so soon as some of their 
colleagues announced seriously that they had really Avitnessed the manifestations. On 
the whole American and EngUsh men of science have furnished the most remarkable 
examples of prejudice and obstinacy. It is easy enough for them to convince themselves 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 361 

of the objective reality of the phenomena ; they have powerful mediums always at hand, 
and yet with a few honourable exceptions they prefer to ignore the existence of these 
facts, and to treat as unworthy of credit the testimony of such men as Hare, De Morgan, 
Wallace, Crookes, Varley, and others. In no far-ofif future such conduct as this will be 
pointed at as a glaring example of scientific prejudice and superstition. I am aware that 
these words can hardly be allowed to appear in conjunction ; the adjective ' scientific,' 
however, does not refer to true science, which knows neither prejudice nor superstition, but 
only to such men who may belong to its ranks on the one hand, but who do not work in 
the true spirit of science so long as they pretend to serve the cause of human knowledge 
by ignoring facts." 

" May the scales soon fall from their eyes, and may they soon enter on the only path 
to truth, namely, the path of experiment ! " 

"I feel constrained to add my testimony to that of my valued friend. Professor 
Boutlerof, in respect of the manifestations which we witnessed in the presence of Williams. 
Besides this, I can testify to having received the confirmation of the appearance of John 
King from Mr. Crookes in his own house, Mrs. Crookes's hand being on Williams's 
shoulder, while he was asleep behind the curtain ; also that in the house of Mrs. 
Macdougall Gregory, the curtain behind which Williams was placed, was nailed over the 
embrasure of a window so closely that the medium was in a niche almost hermetically 
sealed ; and that yet John King appeared above the table, round which the company were 
assembled in front of the curtain ! ^ 

" Alexander Aksakof." 

No less striking than the above is the account published in M. Aksakof's 
journal in 1875 of Professor Wagner's experiences with the French Medium 
Bredif. The sitters were M. and Madame Aksakof, and other friends, 
besides Professor Wagner, who himself wrote the account and published it 
over his own signature. At the seances in question the Medium willingly 
submitted to be tied and tested by methods far more crucial than any of 
those practised in American or English circles. 

M. Bredif never complained of being " degraded " by these tests, nor did 
they seem to interfere in the least with the phenomena produced, in fact 
their only result was to assure Professor Wagner and his friends beyond a 
peradventure that intelligent beings claiming to be Spirits did — and M. 
Bredif did not — make the manifestations observed. 

They consisted of the usual results of physical seances such as direct 
voices ; writings of a test character ; the formation of hands ; playing musi- 
cal instruments and feats of strength accompanied with intelligence. 

M. Aksakof complains that as yet physical phenomena have been wanting 
amongst native Russian Media, although the more intellectual phases of 
" the power " have been widely manifested in private circles. This may 
quite possibly be the case in a country where the free investigation of 
Spiritualism has to be conducted under such stupendous difificulties. 

That physical phenomena are not entirely wanting in Russia as in other 
countries, there is abundant evidence to show, and in proof thereof we cite 
the accounts which have quite recently appeared in the columns of the 
Novoye Vreniya. The following extract from the above-named journal of 
January, 1881, has been translated by a Russian gentleman well acquainted 
with Madame Beetch, and one who has had many opportunities of 
witnessing the phenomena he describes. The report in the Novoye Vremya, 
after enlarging upon the great sensation existing amongst all classes of the 
community on the case reported of, goes on to say :— 

" Not far from Petersburg, in a small hamlet inhabited by three families of German 
colonists, a widow, named Margaret Beetch, took a little girl from the House of Found- 
lings into her service. The little Pelagueya was liked in the family from the first for her 
sweet disposition, her hard-working zeal, and her great truthfulness. She found herself 



362 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

exceedingly hcappy in her new home, and for several years no one ever had a cross word 
for her. Pelagueya finally became a good-looking girl of seventeen, and was beloved in 
the house. Notwithstanding her good looks, no village youth ever thought of offering 
himself as a husband. The young men said she ' awed ' them. They looked upon her 
as people look in those regions upon the image of a saint. So at least say the Russian 
papers and the district police officer sent to investigate her case, which is as follows : — - 

" November 3, 1880, accompanied by a farm-servant, she descended into the cellar 
under the house to get some potatoes. Hardly had they opened the heavy door, when 
they found themselves pelted with vegetables. Believing some neighbour's boy must 
have hidden himself on the wide shelf on which the potatoes were heaped, Pelagueya, 
placing the basket upon her head, laughingly remarked, ' Whoever you are, fill it with 
potatoes and so help me !' In an instant the basket was filled to the brim. Then the 
other girl tried the same, but the potatoes remained motionless. Climbing upon the 
shelf, to their amazement the girls found no one there. Having notified the widow Beetch 
of the strange occurrence, the latter went herself, and unlocking the cellar, which had 
been securely locked by the two maids on leaving, found no one concealed in it. This 
event was but the precursor of a series of others. During a period of three weeks they 
succeeded each other with incredible rapidity. When the girl approaches the well, the 
water begins rising, and soon overflowing the sides of the cistern runs in torrents to her 
feet ; does she happen to pass near a bucket of water, the same thing happens. Hardly 
does she stretch out her hand to reach from the shelf some needed piece of crockery, than 
cups, tureens and plates, as if snatched from the^r place, begin to Jump and tremble, and 
then fall with a crash at her feet. One day Pelagueya having gone to the shed to do her 
usual evening work of feeding the cattle, was preparing to leave with two other servants, 
when the cows and pigs seemed to become suddenly possessed. The former, frightening 
the whole village with the most infuriated bellowing, tried to climb the mangers, while 
the latter knocked their heads against the walls, running around as if pursued by some 
wild animal. Pitchforks, shovels, benches, and feeding trough pursued the terrified girls, 
who escaped by violently shutting and locking the door of the stables. 

" All this phenomena took place not in darkness, but in daytime, and in full view of 
the inhabitants of the httle hamlet ; moreover they were always preceded by extraordinary 
noises hke cracking in the walls, and rajDS in the window-frames and glass. A panic 
seized the household and the inhabitants of the hamlet, which went on increasing at every 
new manifestation. A priest was called, but vrith no good results ; a couple of pots 
danced a jig on the shelf, an oven-fork went stamping on the floor, and a heavy sewing 
machine followed suit. The news ran round the whole district. Men and women from 
neighbouring villages flocked to see the marvels. The same phenomena took place in 
their presence. Once when a crowd of men upon entering, placed their caps upon the 
table, every one of these jumped from it to the floor, and a heavy leather glove, circling 
round, struck its owner on his face. Finally, notwithstanding the affection the widow 
Beetch felt for the poor orphan, towards the beginning of December, Pelagueya and her 
boxes were placed upon a cart, and after many a tear and warm expression of regret, she 
was sent off to the Superintendent of the Foundling Hospital — the institution in which 
she was brought up. This gentleman returning with the girl on the following day; was 
made a witness to the pranks of the same force, and calling in the police, after a careful 
inquest had a proces verial signed by the authorities, and departed." 

Accounts of the ofiEicially noted facts above detailed, have appeared in 
most of the Russian daily organs. Professor Boutlerof also furnishes a 
long and graphic narrative of Pelagueya and her weird Mediumship for the 
columns of the Psychische Stiidien. He gives an account of the official 
investigation, and adds that one half the wonderful things done in the 
presence of the poor Medium are not stated in the declaration — all parties 
however he says attribute these occurrences to the agency of evil Spirits, 
with whom every district in Russia is said to be haunted. 

Amongst the many notable personages who aided to maintain the 
prestige of Spirituahsm in Russia, not only by his admirable life, but also 
by his openly avowed interest in the movement, and the unbounded influence 
which he exercised over the mind of his friend and master the late Czar, 
was Prince Emil de Sayn Wittgenstein. This noble gentleman not only 
held high rank in the Russian army and served as aide-de-camp to the 
Emperor during the unhappy war with Turkey, but few of those who 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 363 

approached His Imperial Majesty's person, enjoyed the royal confidence 
in the same degree. In a correspondence maintained during some years 
with the author of this volume, Prince Emil asked for and obtained a 
number of volumes of the best American literature for the Emperor's library. 
Previous to the fatal war with Turkey the Emperor and Prince Wittgen- 
stein both received assurances through Mrs. Britten's Mediumship that their 
lives would be spared during the conflict, but be sacrificed — the one to the 
insurrectionary spirit at home, the other to the feverish effects of the deadly 
campaign, into which he was about to plunge. Both these gentlemen 
placed implicit faith in these prophecies, and Prince Wittgenstein, in 
acknowledging them to the author, declares — in a letter still cherished in 
remembrance of her esteemed correspondent — ■' that the Emperor antici- 
pated his fate and was resigned;" whilst he — Prince W. — should do the 
best he could to set his house in order, aiid make provision for his beloved 
wife and children. 

These passages are not introduced to discuss the ratmiak of prophecy, 
which every experienced Spirituahst must know to be a demonstrated truth, 
and one, which seems to be singularly rife in Mediumship, but Ihey are 
named to show that a deep and abiding faith in Spiritualism, was cherished 
by men, whose talents, education, and political influence, placed them 
before the world as exemplars of their time. We may conclude a notice 
which would be far more extended did it not involve personal statements 
on the part of the author, which she is determined as far as possible to 
avoid, by giving a brief notice of the departure of good Prince Wittgenstein 
within a few months after the close of the Turco-Russian war. The lines 
in question were written to the " Spiritualist " journal of London, by Miss 
Kislingbury, and speak for themselves. This lady says : — 

" To the Editor of ' The Spiritualist.' 

" Sir, — I have had sorrowful news this morning. The Baroness von Vay writes to me : 
' Our dear, good friend, that excellent and warm Spiritualist, the Prince Emil de Sayn- 
Wittgenstein, has changed his earthly body for a heavenly one.' 

" Having had the pleasure of close personal acqaintance with the Prince during the 
ten days that I was his guest at St. Valery two years ago, I wish to add my tribute of 
regard in respect to his fine social and domestic qualities, in addition to those military 
honours which, won in fair fight, are a public and standing witness to his valour: 

" In affability and courtesy I may say that I never met his equal, and these were 
evident not only in his treatment of strangers, but shone the most brightly in every 
detaQ of his home-life, in his affection for his wife and little children, by whom I need 
not say he was adored, and who have indeed suffered an irreparable loss. The Prince's 
ofiicial relations with the Russian Court were supplemented by familiar friendship and 
intercourse with the Imperial Royal family, and often, as we sat sipping our coffee on the 
balcony in an evening, he would amuse us with little anecdotes about the childhood of 
the present Duchess of Edinburgh, or harrow us with incidents of skirmishes between 
Turks and Cossacks, in which he had borne part, long before there was a thought of the 
late war. . . . 

" No doubt there are other English Spiritualists who have experienced, as weU as myself, 
the Prince's urbanity and kindness. I only wish to add my testimony, from personal 
knowledge, to that of many who will sincerely applaud and deeply lament a man whose 
benevolence was only equalled by his prowess. " Emily Kislingbuey." 

Whilst it cannot be denied that the cause of Spiritualism has lost both 
in Prince Wittgenstein and his illustrious master, warm friends and patrons, 
it must not be supposed that the interest awakened by these royal converts 
was confined to themselves or their immediate circle of adherents. Spirit- 
ualism has a strong and deep foothold in .Russia. It may take the form of 
the grossest superstition amongst the ignorant classes, but its fa^s are too 



364 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

deeply rooted in their experiences to be ignored, even if they mistake the 
source of the demonstrations and pervert the modes in which it should be 
dealt with. The influence of such men as Aksakof, Boutlerof, and Wagner, 
makes public opinioji, and it only requires time to bring the seeds of know- 
ledge they have sown, to ample fruition. Spiritualism too, still maintains 
its place " at Court," as the following brief but significant extracts will show. 
The first is from the Mediu?n of May of this year, 1883, and reads thus : — 

"The Czar of Russia has become a partial convert to the faith of modern Spirit- 
ualism. It came about in this way. When the Czar was in some perplexity- 
respecting the measures to be taken for the safe conduct of the coronation cere- 
monies, it was suggested to him that he should 'ask counsel of the spirits' at the 
hands of a lady medium who has been practising for some years in London. The lady 
(who is an American) was accordingly sent for to St. Petersburg, and gave a ' sitting' to 
the Czar. The result of the seance was so satisfactory that the preparations for the 
coronation were hurried forward with greater enei-gy than before, haste being recom- 
mended with much emphasis. Everything having passed off extremely Avell in Moscow, 
the Czar has come to think that 'there may be something in Spiritualism after all ;" and 
the lady, on her part, is said to be extremely well satisfied with the results of her visit to 
the Russian autocrat. — We may add that the medium in question is evidently Mrs. Kate 
Fox- Jencken, who advertises as having recently returned from St. Petersburg. The spirits 
seem to take a great interest in the Czar. At a circle in Chelsea, messages have been 
frequently received relative to precautions necessary to be taken during recent events, 
which have happily passed off without any calamity occurring. The spirits state that the 
Czar stands between two spiritual forces : if he incline to the lower, and prove oppres- 
sive, he is in danger ; if he inchne to liberal reforms his reign will be established, and 
the higher influenc^es will shield him from danger." 

The second notice, which is from the honoured pen of Mr. S. C. Hall, 
speaks with less confidence of the real mission of " the American Medium" 
to Russia, but gives a satisfactory inside view of Spiritual progress in St. 
Petersburgh. It is as follows : — 



" THE VISIT OF MRS. FOX JENCKEN TO RUSSIA. 



Mat, 1883. 



"Mrs. Fox Jencken has returned in good health from her visit to Russia, where she 
had been invited by M. Aksakof, by whom all her arrangements for ' sittings ' were made. 
Her residence in St. Petersburg lasted for seven weeks, on every day of which she met 
some persons (most of them of high social, professional, or political rank) to whom she 
manifested the marvels of Spiritualism. Her mission was entirely successful, although it 
does not appear that any peculiar ' novelties ' attended, or arose out of it. The result 
was, however, to convince the hundreds who attended her sittings ; and, undoubtedly, 
belief in Spiritualism and thoroughly confirmed faith in the verity of the phenomena, 
have resulted from the lady's visit to the Imperial city. 

" Mrs. Jencken expresses warm gratitude to M. Aksakof. Rooms were provided for 
her at the principal hotel ; a carriage was placed at her disposal ; her two orphan boys, 
who accompanied her, were placed at a temporary school ; her daily callers were very 
numerous ; in a word, the result was far more than merely satisfactory to her, while 
gratifying, convincing, and happy to her sitters, on every occasion for which appointments 
and arrangements had been made. 

" The manifestations were sometimes by night and as often by day — in full light : 
forms were occasionally visible, messages were written in Russian, both by the hand of 
Mrs. Jencken and in ' direct writing.' Several names were communicated of persons 
' gone before.' The raps on the table, floor and walls were even more than usually loud 
and strong : lights were seen in various parts of the room : a small bell was rung 
repeatedly in various parts of it : palpable 'touchings' were numerous, with clear 
evidence as to the identity of the ' touchers : ' in short, all the usual phenomena famUiar 
to advanced SpirituaKsts, were communicated to the sitters — such evidence being fully 
and entkely accepted by several of the most learned professors of the Russian capital. 
And, although there does not seem to have been any marked or peculiar manifestations. 




N. Wagker . 
Professor of Zoology at the University of ST Petersburg . 



NINETEENTH CENTURV MIRACLES. 365 

the result was eminently and entirely satisfactory, confirming the very general belief in 
Spiritualism that prevails in the great city of Northern Europe : the acceptance of 
Spiritualism as a solemn, impressive, and happy truth " 

To the Lord of the Harvest whose work Spiritualism is, in Russia, as in 
every other country, we may confidently commit the results of all that has 
been said, and done, and striven for, by ministering angels both on earth, 
and in heaven; in God's time, if not in man's, the seeds sown by the 
hands of His faithful labourers will bring forth all the fruit which His 
divine wisdom deems necessary for the sustenance of His children in the 
land of the North, as in all other climes and nationalities. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

SCANDINAVIAN FRAGMENTS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 

Were this work devoted to the record of ancient Spiritual beliefs and 
manifestations, it would be found that no portion of the earth affords richer 
fields of observation than the northern lands included under the generic 
term of Scandinavia. 

In Sweden and Norway the Scandinavian cult is so deeply interpenetrated 
with a sort of Spiritualism corresponding in many respects to that which 
took form in America about 1848, and there are such frequent reports 
from those countries of direct interposition on the part of human spirits 
with human affairs, that the study of this subject, from the "supernatural" 
and traditional point of view would open up a valuable and instructive 
theme of research. 

During the present century there seems to be but little or no concerted 
mode of action for the promulgation of Spiritual doctrines, or the study of 
Spiritual phenomena in Scandinavia. Such manifestations as have occurred, 
appear to be of the same spontaneous character as those described in Mrs. 
Catherine Crowe's " Night Side of Nature." 

Apparitions, hauntings, healing by occult methods, and second sight, are 
of common occurrence in Scandinavia, but the organized modes of actipn 
practised by the Spiritualists of America and some countries of Europe, are 
unknown in Sweden and Norway, except in rare instances. 

The study of magic antedates the earliest records of Scandinavian history. 

Permeating all the popular traditions, whether of history, religion, or 
social life, Scandinavian supernaturalism is inextricably interwoven with the 
nature of the people. 

As late as the beginning of the eighteenth century, magic was studied 
as an art, and in still earlier times it was taught as an accepted branch of 
learning. 

Within the last half century, more enlightened and philosophical views 
of occult power and phenomena have been accepted. It is now generally 
belie \^ed that the spirits of mortals play a more important part in occult 
manifestations than the " nature spirits," gods, and demons, to whom — in 
past ages — all inexplicable phenomena were attributed. 

It is realized also, that " the true magician is "• — as Cornelius Agrippa 
asserts — " born so ; " in other words, that the seer, prophet, and modern 
" Medium," is one originally endowed by nature or inheritance, and that 



366 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

magic — 'as an art — only supplements what nature bestows upon certain 
exceptional individuals in the form of Spiritual gifts. In writing of the 
magical practices still common amongst the inhabitants of remote districts 
in Sweden and Norway, Herr Hansen says : — 

"The most essential implement in the performance of magical rites is the famous 
quoldas, or kettledrum. This is cut from the stem of a tree of the required size. The 
inside is then carefully hollowed out, and covered with the dried skin of some animal, 
from which the fur has been removed. This skin is painted with images of gods, demons, 
angels, heavenly scenes, and even fantastic symbols of the Deity. When the sorcerer is 
called upon to exercise his art, he attaches a mass of bangles or metallic rings to his drum ; 
then kneels on the ground, offers invocations to his chosen saints, and commences to beat 
his drum — at first gently and with slowly marked rhythm. As he proceeds his strokes fall 
thicker and heavier, until he seems impelled to strike in the direction of some one of the 
scenes, images, or figures painted on the drum ; finally he leaps up, shouts, sings, tosses 
his drum in the air, and strikes it against his head. A chosen circle of his friends gather 
round him, catch his infection ; dance, leap, sing, and shriek with him, until one or more, 
and sometimes the whole party, fall to the earth in trance or ecstasy. When the enchanter 
himself sinks down, the bystanders continue to mutter round him a sort of rhythmical 
incantation until he regains consciousness, when the visions that have flitted before his 
entranced eyes, or the scenes which his liberated spirit has beheld, are deemed to be 
oracular," 

Sturleson, Zeigler, Magnus, and other authentic writers on Scandinavian 
lore, confirm Hansen's statement, and allege that the most marvellous facts 
of second sight, prophecy, and clairvoyance are revealed in these modes 
by Lapp and Finnish sorcerers. The methods of incantation are not always 
as elaborate as those described above, and may be conducted by the 
enquirer and sorcerer alone, but the professional respondent always con- 
sults his drum, and always claims to be directed to some of the images 
painted upon it, which are used in modes not unlike the spots in which 
fortune-tellers by cards claim to find direction, Herr Magnus, a Swedish 
gentleman of considerable learning, connected with Scandinavian journalism, 
has assured the author, that natural clairvoyance, the faculty of second 
sight, and the power of prophesying by unpremeditated speech, is far more 
universal in Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, than in any other countries he 
has visited in long years of travel. His own young daughter, sent him from 
Stockholm to Cahfornia, a perfect description of " the ranche" at which he 
was staying as a visitor. She added, that two of the cows were sick or 
would be so, when her letter arrived, and if the proprietor (also a Swede) 
would bind on their foreheads two scraps of paper she enclosed, covered 
with little drawings, using them as spells, the animals would recover in 
three days. The little girl's letter was dated twenty days before its delivery 
in California, Herr Magnus showed that letter to the author one week 
later, during which time, the sick animals had been treated as the child had 
directed, and their recovery took place without the aid of any other medi- 
cation, just as she had predicted. 

It would be difficult to give any other name than " Magnetism " to the 
healing power thus curiously displayed, whilst the prevision of the sickness 
and recovery of the animals, might certainly come under the category of 
*' clairvoyance." 

SPIRITUALISM IN SWEDEN. 

It must not be forgotten that Upsala in Sweden, was the birthplace of 
the most highly-endowed seer of modern ages, namely, Emanuel Sweden- 
borg. Whilst the limited character of our record forbids any detailed 
account of Swedenborg's remarkable experiences and doctrines, we should 



NIlStETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 367 

fail to do justice to the Spiritualism of Sweden were we to omit the fact 
that it gave birth to one whose name occupies so distinguished a place in 
the shining roll of immortality. 

We must also call attention to a curious phase of Spiritualism occurring 
in Sweden during the dark and iniquitous trials for " Witchcraft " in the 
middle ages. 

Any of our readers who may be fortunate enough to possess a copy of the 
celebrated work on Witchcraft written by the Rev. Joseph Glanvil, chaplain- 
in-ordinary to Charles II. of England, will find in his collection of narra- 
tives the following striking title-page, printed in clear old English 
characters: — '■^ An Accotint of what Happened i7i the Kingdom of Sweden 
in the years 1669 aiid 1670 in Relation to the Persons Accused of Witch- 
craft Tried and Executed by the King's Command. Printed at first in the 
Swedish dialect by aicthority ; then translated into divers other lajiguages, 
atid notv, upon the request of some friends, done into English. By Anthony 
Horneck, Preacher at the Savoy. LONDON, printed 1681." 

The details of the scenes that follow, bear a striking similarity to those 
of the New England and Scotch trials for witchcraft, and tend to show, 
that the unhappy victims who, under the compulsion of torture, threats, or 
delirium, confessed to wild and impossible practices in the name of witch- 
craft, were still participators in some acts which proved them to be uncon- 
sciously to themselves magnetizers and psychologists. 

The horrible rumours of what witchcraft could effect, were in the air, and 
ignorant though susceptible individuals who felt themselves possessed of 
the power to impress others for good or evil, often exerted it without any 
distinct realization of what they did. On the other hand, the parties 
affected, were involuntarily made aware of the impressions they received 
and in some instances "the spectre," or living Spirit of the magnetizer 
became so palpable to sensitive subjects that the phenomena thus mutually 
produced, ended in accusations and confessions of the most perplexing 
character. 

A careful study of the marvels of psychology and magnetism, especially 
when these potential forces are exercised under the direction of concen- 
trated WILL, may be found to underhe many of the mysteries ignorantly 
denominated "Witchcraft," and will afford a clue to explain the stupendous 
difficulties which beset the conduct of those who were called to sit in judg- 
ment upon accused parties. It is obvious also that some of the victims 
executed for the imaginary crime of witchcraft, were genuine somnambulists, 
or trance Mediums, whilst others again, especially the unfortunate children 
implicated in the general horror, shared in the contagion of a deep 
universal superstition, actually confessing to participation in rites of which 
they had heard or dreamed, until their susceptible minds succumbed to the 
delirium of the times, and they came to believe as real, the horrible fictions 
which popular opinion attributed to them. 

It may be asked what could the unhappy accused parties confess to 
have done or said that should make them worthy of death ? In a word, in 
what was the crime of witchcraft supposed to consist? 

It is certainly far easier to propound, than to answer this question. 

The trials for witchcraft in Scotland, New England, as in Sweden, abound 
with such monstrous tales of compacts and intercourse with demons, and 
the details of the horrible rites, said to have been enacted, are recorded in 
verbiage, at once so revolting and absurd, that it would be impossible to 
transfer them to pages designed for the edification of modern readers. As 



368 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

some examples of the style and tone in which the witchcraft accusations 
were framed, may be instructive to the student of occultism, in the nineteenth 
century, we offer the following selections from Horneck's translation. 
He says : — 

" The news of this Witchcraft coming to the King's ear, his Majesty was pleased to 
appoint Commissioners, some of the Clergy and some of the Laity, to make a journey to 
the village of Mohra to examine into the whole business. The examination was ordered 
to be on the 13th of August, 1669, and the Commissioners met at the Parson's house, to 
whom both the minister and several people of fashion came and complained with tears in 
their eyes of the miserable condition they were in, begging them (the said Commissioners) 
to think of some way whereby they might be delivered from their Calamity. 

" They gave the Commissioners very strange instances of the Devil's tyranny among 
them ; how by the help of Witches he had drawn some hundreds of children to him and 
made them subject to his power ; how he hath been seen to go in a visible sbape through 
the country, and appeared daily to the people ; how he had wrought upon the poorer 

sort by presents of meat and drink The inhabitants of the village added, 

with great lamentations, that though their children had told all, and sought God earnestly 
by prayer, they were carried away by him, and therefore begged the Lords Commissioners 
to root out these Witches, that they may regain their former rest and quietness, the 
rather, because, the children which used to be carried awayjn Elfsborg, since the witches 
had been hurnt, remained unmolested." 

Then follows a long account of trials, in which obscene details, horrible 
rites, and utterly impossible crimes were attributed sometimes to adults 
said to be witches, and sometimes to children, too young in inany instances 
even to speak plaiiily. It is alleged that nearly all the accused persons con- 
fessed to that with which they were charged, or rather, that which the 
ignorant and superstitious imagination of their judges suggested to them as 
the crimes that they were supposed to have committed. 

The only sanity manifested in this reign of lunatic superstition, is in the 
official summing up of the trials, which reads thus : — 

" The confession which the Witches made in Elfsborg to the judges there, agreed with 
the confessiori made at Mohra, and the chief things they confessed to, consisted in these 
three points : — 

"1st. Whither they used to go. 

" 2nd. What kind of place it was they went to, called by them Blockula, where the 
Witches and the Devil used to meet. 

" 3rd. What evil or mischief they had either done, or designed there." 

Then followed confessions equally disgusting and absurd, as to how they 
(the Witches) would go by night to appointed places, wherein by incanta- 
tions they would summon the Devil, who carried them on brooms, in sieves, 
on goats' backs, spits, &c., &c., to Blockula; how they generally saw 
their bodies left behind^ or something left in their homes resembling them ; 
also, how in compUance with the Devil's demand, they were obliged to 
furnish so many children to accompany them. 

Amongst the horrors of these details, appears now and then a sentence 
which speaks of a redeeming touch of sanity such as, " What the real 
manner of their journey was, God alone knows ! " The only marvel is^ how 
men — professing to be Christians, could use the name of God at all in such 
a record. 

Of the nature of the most readable of the'confessions, the following para- 
graph is an illustration : — 

" One little girl, of Elfsborg, confessed that, naming Jesus as she was carried away, 
she instantly fell to the ground, and got a great hole in her side, which the Devil 
presently healed up again, and away he carried her ; and to this day the girl confessed 
ehe had exceeding great pain in her side. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 369 

" Of Blockxjla. 

"They unanimously confest that BlochvZa is a large deKcate meadow whereof you 
can see no end. 

" The house they met at had before it a gate painted with divers colours. Through 
this gate they went into a little meadow, where the Beasts went that they used to ride on. 
But the men whom they rode upon in their journey stood in the house by the gate in a 
slumbering posture, sleeping against the wall. ... In a huge room of this house 
they said stood a long table at which the witches sat down ; and that hard by was a 
chamber where there were lovely and delicate beds. 

" The first thing they must do at Blockula was that they must deny all else ; devote 
themselves body and soul to the Devil and promise to serve him faithfully, and confirm 
all this with an oath. Hereupon they cut their fingers, and with their blood writ their 
names in his book. They added, that he caused them to be baptized by such priests as 
he had there, and made them confirm them confirm their baptism with dreadful oaths 
and imprecations " 

Then follow descriptions of their monstrous rites ; the evils that the 
Devil commanded them to do, or that they, the witches, asked permission to 
do against those they disliked ; accounts of their horrid feasts, dances, &c., 
&c., for all of which consult Goethe's "Walpurgis Night," "The Witches' 
Sabbath at Blocksberg," or the annals of Bedlam ! 

What sane minds in this age cannot discover, that some malignant atmos- 
pheric epidemic had fallen upon the inhabitants of the districts said to be 
possessed ? — that in a certain state of physical weakness and disabihty, a 
contagious condition of delirium set in, seizing upon all those who were 
most negative or most susceptible, such as children, weak, old, or infirm 
men and women, and that in this state, the wild and ghastly legends of 
witchcraft which for centuries had prevailed as an article of superstitious 
belief amongst the peasantry of Europe, became the distinguishing mental 
feature of their enfeebled minds — that is to say, that some epidemic dis- 
order was in the air, and the result was an universal monomania, of which 
the belief in Satanic possession and traditional witchcraft were the distin- 
guishing marks ? 

The introduction of little children into these horrible scenes, especially 
some of an age so tender, " that they could not even speak plainly enough 
to answer the simplest questions put to them," of course complicates the 
horror of the popular madness, and rendered it in the period of its enact- 
ment, still more difi&cult to deal with. 

Herr Christian Rumpt, Resident for the States-General in Stockholm, in 
a narrative of some of the ghastly scenes of the time alleges, that he was 
obliged to send away his little son to Holland, lest he too should catch the 
general infection, and become possessed by the prevailing Satanic agency. 
Herr Rumpt says, the accused children were carried away by the witches to 
Blockula, sometimes by force, and occasionally by promises of fine presents 
and the prospect of marvellous sights. 

Many of the children, he adds, confessed to participation in the horrible 
rites they were questioned about, and most of them volunteered to tell how 
" when they were carried away they saw their own bodies lying in their beds 
seemingly sound asleep.''^ 

Report adds, that in several of the districts in the province of Elfsborg 
the possessed children would at times form themselves into groups and 
march through the streets and lanes, walking solemnly, praying and preach- 
ing with wonderful fervour, and in a style far beyond the years of the oldest 
of them. Sometimes they would speak in the purest Latin, Greek, and 
Hebrew, much to the confusion and terror of the grave divines who heard 
24 



370 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

and understood them. The same reports alleged, that " the Devil, their 
master, would even let them (the children) heal sick folk, and prophesy of 
coming events correctly, the more surely to win over the souls of the 
people to the service of Satan, and persuade them the children were not 
possessed by demons." Anthony Horneck's translation of the Swedish 
narrative winds up with the statement that, " by order of His Majesty, the 
convicted ones were sentenced as follows : — Twenty-three adults, and 
fifteen children were co7idenined and executed; six-and-thirty children between 
nine and sixteen, less guilty than the rest, were condemned to run the 
gauntlet ; twenty more were lashed with rods at the church door for three 
Sundays, and another band of thirty were lashed each Sunday for a whole 
year." Amidst the unspeakable horrors of these scenes, wherein brutality 
and ignorance seemed to be struggling for the mastery, it is refreshing to 
read one beautiful and suggestive paragraph. Horneck says: — "Some of 
the children talked much of a white angel, which used to forbid them doing 
what the Devil had bid them do, and told them, that those doings should 
not last long : what had been done had been permitted because of the 
wickedness of the people, and the carrying away of the children should be 
made manifest; and they added that this white angel would place himself 
sometimes at the door betwixt the Witches and the children, and when they 
came to Blockula he pulled the children back, but the Witches they went in." 

Ever a white a?igel to arrest the steps of the helpless or faltering from 
treading the path of evil, if we will but listen to his warnings ! 

As a corollary to this shameful narrative, the writer adds : — " The number 
of the seduced children were about three hundred. ... On the 25th 
of August, 1670, execution was done upon the notoriously guilty, the day 
being bright and glorious, and the sun shining. Some thousands of people 
were present at the spectacle ! " 

The heart revolts, the senses sicken, and the mind staggers before the 
awful tale, and all that it involves ! We gladly close the page, and with 
convulsive shudders for what has been, thank the Supreme Ruler of all 
times and countries, that we do not live in an age so sunk in ignorance and 
steeped in barbarity as that in which such scenes could have been enacted. 

In closing the detail of this remarkable episode, we acknowledge that 
some explanation is due to the reader for introducing records of a period 
which antedates the century, to the annals of which this volume is devoted, 
by at least two hundred years. 

For an anachronism of so marked a character, we have only to plead that 
our tale of mystery is as yet but half told. Passing over two hundred years 
after the trials above noted, we find another scene enacted on Swedish 
ground, which only presents varying features in view of the different stand- 
points of civilization from which the two narratives are considered. It is 
chiefly to show how the same influences may recur at different epochs of 
time and how surely we imprint the characteristics of our own ignorance 
or enlightenment upon all that befalls us, that we have dwelt so much at 
length on an illustration of how Spiritual influences were misunderstood in 
the seventeenth century, and forces that must now inevitably take their 
place in the category of natural law, may be transformed by the glamour of 
ignorance and superstition into unmixed evil and diabolism. The case 
which is designed to prove this position and act as a notable corollary to 
Spiritual influences in Sweden will be found detailed in the succeding 
chapter. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 371 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

SCANDINAVIAN FRAGMENTS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM (CONTINUED). 

The Preaching Epidemic in Sweden. 

For a graphic summary of the singular movement which has received the 
above caption — a movement which took place nearly on the same ground 
as that traversed in the last chapter, though it occurred about two hundred 
years later in time — we shall avail ourselves of the description given by 
Ennemoser, in his " History of Magic," translated by Mrs. Mary Howitt. 
The narrative commences as follows, and is headed 

"the PREACHING EPIDEMIC OF SWEDEN. 

" That portion of Southern Sweden, formerly called Smaland, now comprising the 
provinces of Kalmar, Wexis, and Joukoping, though one of the poorest parts of the 

kingdom, is inhabited by a laborious, contented, and deeply religious people 

In 1843, Dr. J. A. Butsch, Bishop of Skara, wrote a long letter to the Archbishop of 
Upsala concerning the scenes of which he was an eye-witness, then transpiring in 
his own diocese, and popularly termed by the amazed communities amongst whom 
they occurred 'the preaching epidemic' The manifestations described in Dr. Butsch's 
letter were not confined to the districts he visited and wrote of, but extended throughout 
a large part of Sweden, especially in the provinces named above. The reader will 
naturally ask, as the Bishop does himself, what is the preaching epidemic ? . . . The 
Bishop was of opinion that it was a disease originally physical, but afifecting the mind 
in a peculiar way ; he arrived at this conclusion by attentively studying the phenomenon 
itself. At all events, bodily sickness was an ingredient in it, as was proved from the fact 
that although every one affected by it, in describing the commencement of their state, 
mentioned ' a spiritual excitement ' as its original cause, close examination proved that 
an internal bodily disorder attended by pain had preceded or accompanied this excitement. 

" Besides, there were persons who, against their own will, were affected by the quaking 
fits, which were one of its most striking early outward symptoms, without any previous 
religious excitement, and these, when subjected to medical treatment soon recovered, 

"The Bishop in his letter above-named, expresses his opinion that the disease cor- 
responds very much with what he has heard and read respecting the effects of animal 
magnetism. . . . Speaking of the effect of sulphur and the magnet on the sick 
persons, he says : ' In these cases there was an increased activity of the nervous and 
muscular systems ; and further, heaviness in the head, heat at the pit of the stomach, 
prickling sensation in the extremities, convulsions, quakings, and finally the falling with 
a deep groan into a profound fainting fit or trance.' 

" In this trance, the patient was so insensible to outward impressions, that the loudest 
noise would not awaken him, nor would he feel a needle thrust deeply into his body. 
Mostly however, during this trance, he would hear questions addressed to him, and reply 
to them ; and, which was'extraordinary, invariably in these rephes, applied to every one 
the pronoun thou. The power of speech too in this state was that of great eloquence, 
lively declamation, and the command of purer language than was usual or apparently 
possible for him in his normal state. The invariable assertions of all patients when in 
this state were, that they were exceedingly well ; and that they had never been so happy 
before ; they declared that the words they spoke were given to them by some one else 
who spoke by them. Their disposition of mind was pious and calm ; they seemed dis- 
posed for visions and predictions. Like the early Quakers, they had an aversion to certain 
words and phrases, and testified in their preaching against places of amusement, gaming, 
drinking, maypole festivities, gay dress, and vanity and display. There was in some 
famiHes a greater tendency to this influence than in others : it was greater in children 
and females than in adults and men, and amongst men, prevailed with the sanguine 
temperament. 



372 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" The patients invariably showed a strong desire to be together, and seemed to feel a 
sort of spiritual attraction to each other. In places of worship, they would aU sit 
together and when questioned they answered we instead of /. . . . With respect to 
the conduct and conversation of the patients during the time of their seizure, the Bishop 
says, he never saw anything improper. ... In Elf sborg, where the disease prevailed 
to a great extent, bands of children under the influence went about singing what are 
called Zion's hymns, the effect of which was singularly striking, even affecting. The 
Bishop says, that to give a complete and detailed description of the nature of the disease 
would be impossible, because, like animal magnetism, it seems to be infinite in its 
modification and form. . . . The quaking of which so much has been said, appears 
to have been the first outward sign, the inward vision and preaching being its con- 
summation ; though when this was reached, the fit mostly commenced by the same sign. 
In some patients, the quakings seem to have come on at the mention of certain words, 
the introduction of certain ideas, or the proximity of certain persons or things, which in 
some mysterious manner appeared to be inimical to the patient. . . . One of the 
patients explained some of these anomalous conditions thus — that according as his 
spiritual being advanced upwards, he found that there existed in him, and in the world, 
many things which were worse than that which he had previously considered the worst — 
and vice versa of better things. In some cases the patients were violently affected by the 
simple words yes and no — the latter word in particular was most painful and repulsive to 
them, and ha^been frequently described by them as one of the worst demons tied in the 
chains of darkness in the deepest abyss. 

" It was remarked also that they frequently acted as if they had a strong temptation 
to speak falsehood, or to say more than they were at liberty to say. They would frequently 
exhort each other to speak the truth, and so frequently answered dubiously and even 
said — they did not know, leaving the impression on the minds of the listeners, either 
that untruthfulness or hesitation was a peculiarity of the disease. . . . " 

If our readers have followed Ennemoser's transcript of the Bishop's letter 
thus far intelligently, they will perceive that the " patients" described above, 
were unmistakeably magnetic subjects ; that they were clearly in magnetic 
states, though the magnetizers were invisible beings. Furthermore, that 
the influence was mixed, being both good and bad, truthful and untruthful, 
the one often prevailing over the other. Also, that all the descriptions 
given ab6ve correspond first to the magnetic states described by Kerner, 
Cahagnet, Deleuze, Ashburner, Elliotson, &c., &c. ; next, that they tally 
in wonderful parallel lines with the trance Mediums, and especially the 
inspirational states of the platform speakers of the modern Spiritual move- 
ment. Those silly uninformed materialists who are so fond of taunting the 
Spiritual speakers with the question, IVAaf proof can you give of your 
abnormal or Spiritually controlled condition ? — if they have not the oppor- 
tunity of studying the works written by experienced magnetizers, might 
profitably read the records of the Irish revivals, or the Swedish preaching 
epidemic, of which we are writing. They might believe in the possibility 
of an abnormal Spiritual intelligence prevailing with the poor and unlearned 
inhabitants of Elfsborg, when their case is graphically described in the 
correspondence between a bishop and archbishop, even if they scornfully 
ignore the testimony of parallel cases presented before their own eyes. 
Both examples occur in the nineteenth century, and no doubt explain every 
other similar visitation recorded as happening at earlier epochs of human 
history. 

There are one or two other points in the testimony presented by the 
Bishop of Skara to which we cannot omit drawing attention. 

The Bishop insists upon calHng the subjects of the power "patients," 
affirms that " bodily sickness " is an ingredient in it, and enumerates a few 
symptoms, not one of which indicates any particular form of bodily sickness, 
though all are more or less suggestive — as he himself allows — of the trance 
condition induced by magnetism. Without reiterating the summary of 




JOHN S. FARMER, 



EDITOR OF "light," AND AUTHOR OF "a NEW BASl.S U.- i-l^i 

imrioktality," "how to investigate spiritualism, 

"present day prohlemsT^" hints on 

mesmerism," etc. etc. 




WM. P. ADSHEAD. 



From a Negative by J. Schmidt, Bdper. 




J\ 




■'>l 



?l, 



E. DAWSON ROGERS, 



",■ /afe President of 
'.':.':: )iiver of iJu 
i.^SLCirch, ore. 



by Henderson, 49, King William Street, Lcndon, E.G. 



V/v/ V-z-fO^'V-V 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 373 

results which ensue from the Bishop's so-called condition of " sickness," it 
must certainly strike any candid observer that such forms of sickness are 
worth cultivating, when they will produce in the patients, sentiments of 
unwonted happiness ; make them feel better in health than they ever felt 
before, enable them to hear and answer questions, and discourse with an 
amount of power and eloquence utterly foreign to their normal state. 
Those " patients " too, were always represented as being in a pious frame of 
mind \ of denouncing drinking, gaming, and other popular vices. They all 
exhibited the appearance of speaking the words of others, and not their own, 
and manifested such remarkable grace, dignity, and exaltation that the disease 
might as well be cultivated as an art of deportment, as for its singular 
faculty of making orators, preachers, moralists, and saints, out of boorish 
peasants, and uneducated rustics ! 

In fine, it seems almost providential that this " disease " only appears at 
rare intervals, and that generally in places removed from the large centres 
of civilization. Were it otherwise, our clergymen, statesmen, and orators 
would have to resort to the hospitals to study eloquence from the victims 
of the epidemic ; our fine ladies would have to watch " fits," to learn the 
finest graces of deportment, and moral philosophers would sit around 
" patients " to discover the true secrets of reform, and derive hints of 
practical virtue, eliminated from diseased organisms ! 

In the hope that other bishops besides Dr, J. A. Butsch may study and 
apply the lessons enforced by this remarkable and strictly novel phase of 
" disease," we commend the above-named learned gentleman's remarks to 
the attention of the reader for what they are worth. 

We now resume Ennemoser's narrative in which the following descriptions 
are drawn, as before, chiefly from the Bishop of Skara's letter : — 

"The Bishop said he had seen several persons fall at once into the trance without any 
premonitory symptom. 

" Sometimes the parties preached with their eyes open and standing, and sometimes 
closed, and in a recumbent posture. He gives an account of three preaching girls in the 
parish of Warnham, of ages varying from eight to twelve. It was shortly before Christ- 
mas, 1842, when he went, in company with the Rev. Mr. Zingrist, the Rev. Mr. Smedmark, 
and a respectable farmer, his friend, to visit the cottage where these children lived. Many 
strangers besides the Bishop's party were present. The children, though peasants, were 
well informed, and could read ; they were good and well disposed, and since their seizure 
were remarkably gentle and quiet. In their normal state they were bashful and timid. 
When in the trance they declared they were quite well, and had never been so happy 
before. When awakened, they complained of headache, pains in the limbs, and weakness, 
&c. In the case of one of the children, her symptoms commenced with a violent trembling, 
and she fell backwards so heavily as to alarm the spectators, though no injury seemed to 
ensue. The trance lasted several hours, and divided itself into two stages. In the first 
she rose up violently, and caught at the hands of the people round her. Some she instantly 
flung aside, as if repugnant to her ; others she held, gently patted, and rubbed softly ; 
these are called ' good hands." Sometimes she made signs as if she were pouring out 
something which she appeared to drink, and her father and others present said she could 
detect any one in the company who was a dram drinker, and even indicate the number of 
glasses he had taken. She went through the mimic operation of loading, presenting, and 
firing a gun ; performed most dramatically a pugUistic combat, and went through the 
action of a person dressing " 

The Bishop and his commentator, Ennemoser, express the utmost 
bewilderment concerning the meaning of these signs. Those who have 
ever seen " the pantomimic Mediums" of the modern dispensation, and 
remember how graphically they would represent, under the influence of 
Spirits, the characteristics, or special scenes in the lives qf deceased 



H 



374 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

persons, will be at no loss to understand what this little one's " control " 
desired to depict. The good but uninformed narrator says : — 

" What rendered all this so extraordinary was, that although she was but a simple, 
bashful peasant child, clothed in a sheepskin jacket, yet all her actions were free, full of 
dramatic effects ; vigorous when representing manly action, and so indescribably graceful 
and full of sentiment when personating female occupations, as to amaze the more culti- 
vated spectators. She seemed to be far more like an image in a dream, than a creature Qf 
flesh and blood. The child next passed into the second stage of the trance, which was 
characterized by a beautiful calmness and quiet. With her arms meekly folded she began 
to preach. Her manner was that of the purest oratory ; her tones earnest and solemn, 
and the language of a high and exalted character, impossible for her to have used when 
awake. Her appearance was saint-like, and her voice, which in her natural state was 
hoarse and harsh, had a brilliancy and clearness of tone wonderful to listen to. Many of 
the assembly wept, and all observed the profoundest silence. . . . " 

Ennemoser adds : — 

" The number of persons affected in the Bishop's province of Skaraborg alone, where 
' the disease ' did not prevail as generally as in other places was, in 1843, upwards of 
3,000 ! . . . The clergy and doctors used all their endeavours to extinguish the move- 
ment, and by the end of 1843 it had almost ceased. Nothing of the kind has since 
appeared, but the good effects it produced on the mind of many a hardened sinner remains 
to testify to its truth and reality, although no one, whether learned in the science of 
physical or spiritual life, can yet explain the cause and nature of this extraordinary 
mental phenomena." 

So writes Ennemoser in 1855, giving in the same work several pages to 
descriptions of phenomena in the United States which in thousands of 
instances paralleled the preaching epidemic of Sweden and ocher cases 
with which his two volumes are full. The good Bishop of Skara called 
" the power," disease. Ennemoser asserts that " neither physical nor 
mental science can explain it." "The power" in America and Europe calls 
itself Spiritual influence, and though this assertion is positively demon- 
strated by uncounted test facts, identifying the said power with the Spirits 
of men and women who have once lived on earth, fke clergy and doctors 
now, as in 1843, " use all their efforts to extinguish the movement," and the 
fact that they cannot succeed as well with calm, sane, and scientific investi- 
gators, as they did when dealing with the simple-minded unlettered 
peasantry of Skara, is an additional proof that " the power " is an intelli- 
gent one, and something too mighty to be extinguished by the particular 
crafts which it happens to interfere with. 

In closing our notices of these curious Swedish phenomena, we have only 
to point out the numerous records of kindred occurrences in different 
countries at different periods of time, and suggest the probability, that there 
are mental upheavals which move with as much regularity, and appear and 
disappear in connection with unknown laws of magnetism, just as inevitably 
as those physical disturbances or atmospheric storms which, from time to 
time, alter the face of our planet. Were the entire scheme known, and the 
laws of mutual interdependence between mind and matter fully understood, 
we might prepare for these mental convulsions and Spiritual manifestations, 
with the same certainty that we expect the trade winds, or the equinoctial 
storms. 

With a few isolated accounts of the phenomena which are recorded from 
time to time as occurring in certain families in Sweden and Norway, our 
notices of Scandinavian Spiritualism must be brought to a close. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 375 

One sanguine writer in the London Medium and Daybreak, gives the 
following encouraging notice of Swedish Spiritualism as a movement, in 
1878. He says : — 

"WASA, FINLAND. 

" It is about a year and a half since I changed my abode from Stockholm to this place, 
and during that period it is wonderful how SpirituaHsm has gained ground in Sweden. 
The leading papers, that used in my time to refuse to publish any article on Spiritualism 
excepting such as ridiculed the doctrine, have of late thrown their columns wide open to 
the serious discussion of the matter. Many a Spiritualist in secret, has thus been 
encouraged to give publicity to his opinions without standing any longer in awe of that 
demon, public ridicule, which intimidates so many of our brethren. Several of Allan 
Kardec's works have been translated into Swedish, among which I may mention his 
* Evangile selon le Spiritisme ' as particularly well rendered in Swedish by Walter 
Jochnick. A Spiritual Library was opened in Stockholm on the 1st of April last, which will 
no doubt greatly contribute to the spreading of the blessed doctrine. The visit of Mr. 
Eglinton to Stockholm was of the greatest benefit to the cause. Let us hope that the stay 
of Mrs. Esperance in the south of Sweden may have an equally beneficial efi'ect. Notwith- 
standing all this progress of the cause in the neighbouring country. Spiritualism is looked 
upon here as something akin to madness, but even here there are thin, very thin rays, 
and very wide apart, struggling to pierce the darkness." 

The author is in possession of a large number of cases of alleged 
haun tings, some being attached to houses and others to places, but none of 
them offer features of sufficient diversity from the ordinary run of similar 
narratives to make their insertion worth the reader's attention. The same 
may be said on the subject of dreams, visions, and second sight. 

All these phenomena prevail amongst the Swedes, and the tendency to 
fairy lore manifested in their literature undoubtedly arises from their senti- 
ment of close proximity to "the border land." Frederika Bremer, the 
celebrated novelist, during a tour through the New England States, 
frequently alluded to her faculty of dreaming, and prevision. This lady, 
though neither a Spiritualist nor in sympathy with the Spiritual movement 
at the time of her visit to America, was undoubtedly a Medmm of a high 
order. She related at a party given by some warrn Spiritualists, in her 
honour at Boston, how often she saw " the images " of her friends at long 
distances off, engaged in scenes which she afterwards found to have 
actually transpired. She said that — as in the experience of Hans Christian 
Andersen — the plot and framework of many of her stories pressed in upon 
her brain, and haunted her, until she wrote them down, and she often felt 
as if she was rather transcribing something from memory, than composing, 
when she wrote her works of fiction. The following short notice of her 
decease, pubHshed in the London Spiritual Magazine of 1866, may possess 
some interest for the admirers of this lady's writings. The editor says : — 

" The celebrated Swedish novelist, Fredrika Bremer, passed away, in consequence of a 
cold, which ended in inflammation of the lungs, at three o'clock on Sunday morning, the 
last day of the old year, at the seat of Arsta, in the parish of Osserhamminge, some 
eighteen miles south-east of Stockholm. 

" Fredrika Bremer was born at Abo, in Finland, in August, 1801, and had consequently 
attained her sixty-fourth year. She, herself, expected to die before the end of 1865, 
owing to a dream which she dreamed thirty years since, and which had left an indelible 
impression on her mind. It was partly owing to this that she removed to Arsta, the old 
home of her youth and early womanhood, in the course of last summer, and there she 
quietly spent her remaining days, in cheerful, resigned preparation. She enjoyed her 
usual good health to within a week of her decease, and her friends in no wise shared her 
presentiment. She gave a Christmas tree to the children on the estate, on Christmas eve, 
and attended service at the Church of Osserhamminge, on Christmas Day, when she took 
the chill which ended fatally, 



376 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" Her writings, which are especially distinguished for their accurate pictures of family 
life, and for their genial, happy spirit, have made her name known far beyond the 
boundaries of her native land, and are translated into the principal European languages. 

" In the closing portion of her life she became much interested in SpirituaHsm, and 
read 'From Matter to Spirit' vdth intense emotion. She says of it, 'It is the look I 
needed to enter fully into the interest and understanding of Spiritualism in its recent 
form as a science. It is certainly an admirable work, as to its mind and spirit. Its 
theory and exposure of the natural laws, working in this class of phenomena, deserve the 
highest attention and appreciation of every intelligent and truth-loving mind.' Still some 
'buts' arose in her mind against Spiritualism as the basis for a science and religion. These 
were fully and ably answered last autumn, by various deep-thinking Spiritualists. Her 
acceptance of their views has not, however, become known, but of this we are certain, that 
her mind was thoroughly open to conviction ; a great step — since she had been prejudiced 
by some of the manifestations she witnessed in America, and which made her declare ' that 
the spiritual world had its " humbugs," even as our world has,' and it did not seem to her 
extraordinary that they endeavoured to make fools of us." 

SPIRITUALISM IN NORWAY. 

Amongst a large mass of literature sent to the author concerning the 
traditions, fairy lore, and mythology of Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Isles, 
&c., there is little or no evidence that the inhabitants of these northern 
lands turn their natural Spiritual endowments to account, or attempt to 
systematize their powers by holding circles, or taking part in the modern 
phenomenal movement. The author of " Art Magic," who visited Norway, 
Iceland, Finland, and other portions of the northern coast during several 
summers, considers that the superstitious beliefs of the inhabitants in sea 
gods, sea kings, and the monsters said to haunt the wild caverns and 
basaltic ranges that fringe the coast lines, render it difficult to separate the 
facts of direct Spiritual origin, from the legendary lore in which the people 
of these countries delight. This writer says : " The galleries of mental art 
are filled with the images of half-formed elementary existences which float 
like many coloured bubbles over the surface of the mirror in which Spirit 
friends attempt to reflect their well remembered faces. The people are truly 
Mediumistic, sensitive, high strung, and nervous, as the result of the climate 
in which they dwell ; poetical and imaginative, in accordance with their clear 
skies, studded over with blossoms of fire, and the wild, rugged scenery amidst 
which they pass untravelled lives. Still it is almost impossible to receive 
a plain narrative of Spiritual actualities from their lips, without finding it 
embellished with the mirage of an unformulated supernaturalism. Hanno 
Steere, the keeper of a lighthouse perched like an eye of fire on a mass of 
towering crags overlooking the wildest waves that ever swept a fated ship 
to doom, assured me the voice of his father, now a Spirit, who kept that 
tower of warning before him, never failed to call him thrice and with solemn 
earnestness cry ' The lifeboat ! the lifeboat ! ' before every storm that beat 
on that coast. And though the sea might be like glass and the winds 
sighing as softly as an infant's breathing, the voice of that Spirit never called 
for the lifeboat in vain. * Sure to be in demand, it is unmoored when the 
soul of my father has passed by,' said the old man; 'and thus have I been 
warned to save unnumbered lives.' " A bright young shepherd living in a 
lonely mountain pass near Bergen, showed the author above quoted the 
cavern where he used to go to consult a Spirit who appeared to him in the 
form of a white bird, when he had lost any of his flock, or needed advice 
in an emergency. 

He said he had always been directed right j that the voice that spoke 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 377 

had warned him again and again of the approach of robbers ; directed him 
how to find lost articles ; when and how to buy, sell, and trade. 

For miles round, the simple country people came to consult the white 
Spirit through this lad. None could hear the voice but himself, and though 
he acknowledged that it exactly resembled that of his dead mother, the boy 
was quite sure it proceeded from " the white bird," a large white owl that 
dwelt in that cavern. 

Many of the peasantry can really prophesy correctly and speak oracularly 
by listening to the murmur of the winds in the pine forests, or the tinkling 
of small cascades falling over the broken rocks. Ask them the secret of 
their prevision, and they will tell you, they hear words spoken by fays or 
kelpies. Amidst the hoarse roar of the waves lashed into fury by northern 
storms, the Icelandic fisherman hears the shout of the ancient Viking, or 
the wail of the Nixie, murmuring a requiem for the ship that shall presently 
be engulphed in the remorseless ocean grave. The woods, the grasses, the 
flowers, are full of fairy people to the Norwegian peasant girl, and storm 
Spirits ride on every meteor that flashes through the blazing midnight skies, 
in the imagination of every fisher lad. Do they believe in apparitions, the 
return of the souls of those who loved and left them a while ago ? " Oh 
yes ! they all do that — m.ore or less — but spirits of the dead hover round 
churchyards they think, light up the churches in the still hours of night, or 
linger around the scenes where deeds of darkness have been performed," 

These Northmen and women would make rare clairvoyants and seers of 
wonderful lucidity, provided they were trained ; reserved for occult experi- 
ments, and could carry their atmosphere, scenery, and surroundings with 
them. Remove them from these, and they are but dull, stolid, unimaginative 
peasants after all. 

Within the last if^ years some attempts have been made to interest the 
well educated inhabitants of Norwegian towns in reports of the Spiritual 
movement. Several ladies and gentlemen who have become readers of 
the Spiritual papers, have formed private circles, and evolved many satis- 
factory phases of Mediumship. A few American professional Mediums 
have visited Bergen and Christiansund, and the phenomena exhibited 
through them has made many converts, although there are few bold enough 
to openly avow their convictions. 

One brave gentleman. Professor H. Starjohann, frequently favours the 
Spiritual journals of Europe and America with words of encouragement 
concerning the progress of the faith in which he is himself so deeply 
interested. 

We shall conclude this necessarily brief notice of Spiritualism in Norway 
with extracts from two communications addressed by this gentleman, the 
one to the Banner of Light, the other to the Revue Spirite. The first, 
dated Christiansund, 1880, reads thus : — 

"Spiritualism is just commencing to give a sign of its existence herein Norway. The 

newspapers have begun to attack it as a delusion, and the ' ex'posi ' of Mrs. C , which 

recently took place at 38, Great Russell Street, London, has made the round through all the 
papers in Scandinavia. After all, it must sooner or later take root, as in all other parts of 
the world. Mr. Eglinton, the English medium, has done a good work in Stockholm, 
showing some of the great savants a new world ; and a couple of years ago Mr. Slade 
visited Copenhagen. The works of Mr. Zollner, the great astronomer of Leipzig, have 
been mentioned in the papers and caused a good deal of sensation. 

" Of mediums there are several here, but all, as yet, afraid to speak out. One writes 
with both hands ; a gentleman is developing as a drawing medium. A peasant, who died 
about five years ago, and lived not far from here, was an excellent healing medium ; his 



378 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

name was Kniid, and the people had given him the nickname of Vise Knud (the wise 
Knud) ; directly when he touched a patient he knew if the same could be cured or not, 
and often, in severe cases, the pains of the sick person went through his own body. He 
was also an auditive medium, startling the people many times by telling them what was 
going to happen in the future ; but the poor fellow suffered much from the ignorance and 
fanaticism around him, and was several times put in prison. 

"I am doing aU I can to make people acquainted with our grand cause." 

The second and more hopeful letter of 1881, addressed to the editor of 
the Revue Spirite, is as follows : — 

" My dear Brothers, — Here our science tidvances without no'ise. An excellent writing 
medium has been developed among us, one who writes simultaneously with both hands ; 
while we have music in a room where there are no' musical instruments ; and where there 
is a piano it plays of itself. At Bergen, where I have recently been, I found mediums 
who, in the dark, made sketches — were dessinateurs — using also both hands. I have 
seen, also, with pleasure, that several men of letters and of the sciences have begun to 
investigate our science spirite. The pastor Eckhoff, of Bergen, has for the second time 
preached against SpirituaHsm, 'this instrument of the devil, this psychographie ' ; and to 
give more of eclat to his sermon he has had the goodness to have it printed ; so we see that 

the spirits are working. The suit against the medium, Mme. F , in London, is going 

the rounds of the papers of Christiania ; these journals opening their columns, when 
occasion offers, to ridicule Spiritualism. We are, however, friends of the truth, but there 
are scabby sheep among us of a different temperament. From Stockholm they write me 
that a library of spiritual works has been opened there, and that they are to have a 
medium from Newcastle, with whom seances are to be held." 

The reader must not suppose that the few fragmentary notices we have been 
able to give of Scandinavian Spiritualism, especially that which has occurred 
in the nineteenth century, includes even a tithe of what can be gleaned 
on the subject. In the London Spiritual Magazine of May, 1865, is a long 
and interesting paper on Swedish SpirituaHsm, by William Howitt, in which 
he gives quite a notable collection of narratives concerning Phenomenal 
Spiritual Manifestations in Sweden, most of which were furnished by an 
eminent and learned Swedish gentleman — Count Piper. The public have 
become so thoroughly sated with tales of hauntings, apparitions, prevision, 
&c, that Count Piper's narrations would present few, if any features of 
interest, save in justification of one assertion, that Spiritualism is rife in 
human experience everywhere, even though it may not take the same form 
as a public movement, that it has done in America and England. 

As early as 1864, a number of excellent leading articles commending the 
belief in Spiritual ministry, and the study of such phenomena as would 
promote communion between the "two worlds," appeared in the columns 
of the A/ton Blad, one of the most popular journals circulated in Sweden. 
As a specimen of the style in which a rational and deliberate mode of 
investigating Spiritual phenomena is commended to the readers of the 
Afton Blad, we cannot do better than close this chapter by the following 
extract from that paper, written by the celebrated German author, 
Hoffmann : — 

" The mysterious spirit world cannot be denied, for it surrounds us, and is continually 
revealing itself to us by strange tones and marvellous visions. Such tones and visions, 
and all narratives of the kind, are gUbly got rid of under the name of superstition. 

" But this is a silly way of proceeding. Superstition is only the proper name for weak 
credulity. But does it not often happen that people include under the general term — 
superstition — numbers of things which they neither understand, nor are capable of under- 
standing ? The very knowing ones think nothing has ever happened which has not 
happened to them, and nothing exists which they have not had betwixt their fingers and 
thumbs. But how far does the circle of man's senses extend, and how imperfect is his 




Luther Colby 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 379 

knowledge even within that circle ? If then he does not comprehend his own wonderful 
existence, how does he presume to dogmatize on the eternal laws which are destined by 
Eternal Wisdom for the spirit-world and its operations ? 

" In our day, even learned people treat everything beyond their own immediate sphere 
of enquiry as matters of sickly fancy and folly, and thereby betray their ignorance. Such 
men will never solve the great problem of the universe ! " 



CHAPTER XLVIL 

SPIRITUALISM IN SWITZERLAND. 



Whilst Spiritualism prevails in every land with more or less phenomenal 
power, it has assumed no place as a public movement anywhere, save in 
America, England, Australia, France, and to a certain extent in Spanish 
America. In Switzerland — where a large number of visitors annually throng 
the most attractive spots, in pursuit of health, rest, and enjoyment — an 
universal under-current of Spiritualistic belief prevails with the floating 
population, although this sentiment with the peasantry, takes the shape of 
superstitious beliefs or religious enthusiasm. 

Experience has shown,, that mountain regions, and the clear electric 
atmosphere of elevated sites, are highly favourable to the development of 
Spiritual gifts, hence it is not uncommon to find Mediums of various endow- 
ments, especially vision seers and healers, amongst the natives of the Swiss 
mountains. The circumstances to which we shall devote this chapter 
however, are of a far more remarkable character than the phenomena 
evolved in the familiar Spirit circle. Two cases of Spiritual outpouring have 
occurred in the Swiss Cantons during the present century, of so starthng a 
nature, as to attract the eyes of all Europe, and to baffle every attempt at 
explanation from any other than a Spiritual hypothesis. 

These cases are first, the tremendous and universal obsession, which fell 
upon the inhabitants of Morzine ; the other, an almost unparalleled instance 
of persecution from the Folter-Gheist, or haunting Spirits. Both circum- 
stances have been narrated in many leading publications of Europe, and 
though treated from different points of view, the very diversity of opinions 
that prevail on these subjects, enables the candid historian to arrive at a 
vast array of facts, which do not necessarily require the statement of 
opposing theories. 

The following brief summary of the Morzine epidemic is collated from 
the pages of the Cornhill Magazine, two or three of the London daily 
journals, the Revue Spirite, and Mr. William Howitt's magazine article 
entitled, " The Devils of Morzine." The period of the occurrence was 
about i860; the scene, the parish of Morzine, a beautiful valley of the 
Savoy, not more than half a day's journey from the Lake of Geneva. The 
place is quiet, remote, and had been seldom visited by tourists before the 
period above named. Being moreover shut in by high mountains, and 
inhabited by a simple, industrious, and pious class of peasantry, Morzine 
might have appeared to a casual visitor the very centre of health, peace, 
and good order. 

The first appearance of an abnormal visitation was the conduct of a young 
girl, who, from being quiet, modest, and well-conducted, suddenly began to 



38o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

exhibit what her distressed family and friends supposed to be symptoms of 
insanity. She ran about in the most singular and aimless way ; climbed 
high trees, scaled walls, and was found perched on roofs and cornices, which 
it seemed impossible for any creature but a squirrel to reach. She soon 
became wholly untractable ; was given to fits of hysteria, violent laughter, 
passionate weeping, and general aberration from her customary modest 
behaviour. Whilst her parents were anxiously seeking advice in this 
dilemma, another and still another of the young girl's ordinary companions 
were seized with the same malady. 

In the course of ten days the report prevailed, that over fifty females — 
ranging from seven years of age to fifty — had been seized, and were exhibit- 
ing symptoms of the; most bewildering mental aberration. The crawling, 
climbing, leaping, wild singing, furious swearing, and frantic behaviour of 
these unfortunates, soon found crowds of imitators. 

Before the tidings of this frightful affliction had passed beyond the district 
in which it originated, several hundreds of women and children, and scores 
of young men, were writhing under the contagion. 

The seizures were sudden, like the attacks; they seldom lasted long, yet 
they never seemed to yield to any form of treatment, whether harsh or kind, 
medical, religious, or persuasive. 

The first symptoms of this frightful malady do not seem to have been 
noted with sufficient attention to justify the historian in giving details which 
could be considered accurate. It was only when the number of the 
possessed exceeded two thousand persons, and the case was attracting 
multitudes of curious enquirers from all parts of the Continent, that the 
medical men, priests, and journalists of the day, began to keep and 
publish constant records of the progress of the epidemic. 

One of the strangest features of the case, and one which most constantly 
bafiled the faculty, was the appearance of rugged health, and freedom from 
all physical disease, which distinguished this malady. As a general rule, 
the victims spoke in hoarse, rough tones unlike their own ; used profane 
language, such as few of them could have ever heard, and imitated the 
actions of crawling, leaping, climbing animals, with ghastly fidelity. Some- 
times they would roll their bodies up into balls . and distort their limbs 
beyond the power of the attendant physicians to account for, or disentangle. 

Many amongst them were levitated in the air, and in a few instances, the 
women spoke in foreign tongues, manifested high conditions of exaltation, 
described glorious visions, prophesied, gave clairvoyant descriptions of 
absent persons and distant places, sang hymns, and preached in strains of 
sublime inspiration. It must be added, that these instances were very rare, 
and were only noticeable in the earher stages of the obsession. Considered 
as a whole, the scenes enacted, and the mental states manifested, were only 
worthy of originating in Pandemonium. 

It is almost needless to say that the tidings of this horrible obsession 
attracted immense multitudes of witnesses, no less than the attention of the 
learned and philosophic. When the atttempts of the medical faculty, the 
church, and the law, had been tried again and again, and all had utterly 
failed to modify the ever-increasing horrors of this malady, the Emperor of 
the French, the late Louis Napoleon, under whose protectorate Morzine 
was then governed, yielding to the representations of his advisers, actually 
sent out three military companies to Morzine, charged with strict orders to 
quell the disturbances " on the authority of the Emperor, or by force if 
necessary." The result of this high-handed policy was to increase ten-fold 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 381 

the violence of the disease, and to augment the numbers of the afflicted, in 
the persons of many of the very soldiers who sank under the contagion 
which they were expected to quench. 

The next move of the baffled French Government, was a spiritual one ; 
an army of priests, headed by a venerable Bishop, much beloved in his 
diocese, being despatched in the quality of exorcists, at the suggestion of 
the Archbishop of Paris. Unhappily this second experiment worked no 
better than the first. 

Respectable-looking groups of well-dressed men, women, and children, 
would pass into the churches in reverent silence, and with all the appearance 
of health and piety ; but no sooner was the sound of the priest's voice, or 
the notes of the organ heard, than shrieks, execrations, sobbings, and frenzied 
cries resounded from different points of the assembly. Anxious fathers and 
husbands were busy in carrying their distracted relatives into the open air, 
and whether in the church or the home, every attempt of a sacerdotal 
character, was sure to arouse the mania to heights of fury unknown before, 

On many occasions, the priests and their sacred paraphernalia were driven 
off by the obsessed, and forced to retreat in fear of bodily harm. Leaping 
walls, scaling terrific heights, and mocking the exorcists with fierce oaths or 
frantic sobbings, the last state of these unhappy ones seemed considerably 
worse than the first. The children affected, acted more like apes than 
human beings, and although now and then there were signs of exaltation, 
and the interference of high angelic influences, the general tone of this 
horrible infection was lunatic, mischievous, and profane. 

Sometimes indeed, the women arose in the churches, and prayed with a 
fervour and eloquence which wrung every heart, and filled the hsteners' 
eyes with tears, but even then, the petitions put up were obviously uttered 
by an vci^f^\x2X\0K\ foreign to the speaker, and pleaded in the most pathetic 
and moving terms for aid in conquering the evil powers that then held 
sway. 

The time came at length, when the good old Bishop thought by a coup 
de grace, to achieve a general victory over the adversary. He commanded 
that as many as possible of the afflicted should be gathered together to hear 
high mass, when he trusted that the solemnity of the occasion would be 
sufficient to defeat what he evidently believed to be the combined forces of 
Satan. 

Our space does not permit the quotation of the Bishop's letter addressed 
to the French Archbishop ; the gist of the document is however, to report 
an entire failure of his scheme. According to the description cited by 
William Howitt in his paper on " The Devils of Morzine," the assemblage 
in question, including at least two thousand of the possessed, and a number 
of spectators, must have far more faithfully illustrated Milton's description 
of Pandemonium than any mortal scene before enacted. Children and 
women were leaping over the seats and benches ; clambering up the pillars, 
and shrieking defiance from pinnacles which scarcely admitted of a foothold 
for a bird. 

Men beat their breasts, tore their hair, and moaned as if in mortal agony. 
One young man was endeavouring with eyes streaming with tears and face 
pale as marble, to hold back his young bride from ascending a fluted 
column, whilst she broke from his grasp, scaled the giddy height, and 
perching herself on the carved capital, broke forth into peals of laughter, 
which froze the blood of every mortal to listen to. Whole knots of women, 
who in their own homes seemed to be healthy, happy, and strictly modest 



382 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

matrons, were lying on the ground with dishevelled hair, and rent garments, 
or dancing on tombs, and monuments, like incarnate fiends. 

The poor Bishop's letter contains but one remark which seems to offer 
a clue to these scenes of horror and madness. He says : " When in my 
distress and confusion I accidentally laid my hand on the heads of these 
unfortunates, I found that the paroxysm instantly subsided, and that how- 
ever wild and clamorous they may have been before, the parties so 
touched, generally sunk down as it were into a swoon, or deep sleep, and 
woke up most commonly restored to sanity, and a sense of propriety." 

Good old man ! unconsciously to himself a powerful magnetizer. Had 
the clue thus furnished been followed out, the whole tribe of obsessing 
demons might have been conquered, and their power replaced with a 
pure, holy, and healthful influence, which would have held possession 
of the frenzied crowd, until they could have been restored to sanity and 
individuahsm. 

An earnest and philosophical observer of this frightful drama, a gentleman 
commissioned by one of the Brussels journals to report what was trans- 
piring, writes of the closing scenes as follows : — 

" ' I stayed at Morzine until Monseigneur left, that is to say, till half -past six in the 
evening. The poor bishop was utterly dispirited. Two or three ' possedees ' were bi-ought 
to him in the sacristy, but he could do nothing. On my return I found one by the side 
of the road. I questioned her also in a foreign language, but she got angry, and replied 
by a handful of gravel, which she flung in my face, telling me that I only went once a 
year to mass, and that I was a busybody.' 

" The complete failure of episcopal influence threw the Government back on the help 
of medical science. Dr. Constans had, since his first visit, published a report, in which 
he held out hopes of cure if his advice were strictly followed. He was again commissioned 
to do what he could for Morzine. Armed with the powers of a dictator he returned there, 
and backed by a fresh detachment of sixty soldiers, a brigade of gendarmes and a fresh 
cure, he issued despotic decrees, and threatened lunatic asylums, and in any case 
deportation for the convulsed. He fined any person who accused others of magic, or in 
any way encouraged the prevalent idea of supernatural evil. He desired the curi to 
preach sermons against the possibility of demoniacal possession, but this order could not 
well be carried out by even the most obedient priest. 

" The persons affected with fits were dispersed in every direction. Some were sent to 
asylums and hospitals, and many were simply exiled from Chablais. They were not 
allowed to revisit even for a day their homes, except by very special favour. The existing 
health of the exiles is, of course, not well known, but we have heard of many who have 
attacks even now when they are far from Morzine. Four or five who were unfortunately 
kept together in an Annecy hospital, set on the chaplain, a priest who attempted to 
exorcise them, and ill-treated him after the fashion in which they had dealt with 
his bishop. 

" Whether fear has helped to stay the spiritual plague, as undoubtedly fear helped 
to produce it, remains to be proved ; at present the urgent pressure put by the 
French Government on the people of Morzine seems to have scotched the snake. There 
have been no cases of convulsion for four months. The soldiers have been withdrawn. 
Visitors to the place, curious of information, are, we think wisely discouraged ; quacks 
and charlatans are not allowed admission to the commune." 

We should not care to conclude this horrible and apparently incredible 
narrative without citing some additional testimony of a corroborative and 
authentic character. We will therefore give a few extracts from Mr. William 
Howitt's excellent paper on " The Devils of Morzine," published in the 
London Spiritual Magazine, which read as follows : — 

" We need not point to the salient facts of our narrative, or discuss the various theories 

that have been invented to account for them It is impossible not to see the 

resemblance of the Morzine epidemic with the demonopathy of the sixteenth century, and 
the history of the Jansenist and Cevennes convulsionnaires. . . . Some of the facts 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. z'^z 

we have related were often observed in the state o /hypnotism, or nervous sleep, with 
which physicians are familiar. The hallucinations of which we have given instances are 
too common to astonish us. But the likeness of this epidemic to others that have been 
observed, does not account for its symptoms. 

" The resemblance of one set of phenomena to another does not explain any 

In this narrative we notice, that like all the revival and other epidemic phenomena, this 
of Morzine began with one person, who communicated the infection to her companions. 
At the commencement, it seemed as if it was about to be a religious revival, but the evil 
spirits soon got the better and thenceforth maintained their ground. The extreme 
similarity in small points, such as running up trees and houses, will be best seen by giving 
some other instances of similar epidemic phenomena which occurred at convents and 
schools in France, Holland, and Germany during upwards of one hundred and fifty years, 
breaking out from the year 1494 to the year 1652, each attended with convulsive spasms 
of the body and mental characteristics, simUar in many respects to those of the Morzine 
possession. It is noticed in that of the nuns at Wertet that it commenced in a notion of 
witchcraft, and that they were seized with violent fits of sadness and paroxysms of an 
hysterical kind ; that they fell suddenly to the ground as if dead, ivhilst others scrambled 
up trees, clamhering with their feet like cats. Mr. Madden, in his ' Phantasmata,' gives a 
description of these cases, and describes that of the nuns of Kintorp as follows : — -'At first 
a few only were seized with convulsions and hallucinations. The symptoms seemed to be 
communicated, it is said, by contact ; but perhaps it would be more correct to say, by 
close intercourse and sympathy. When the attack burst out they raved, uttered cries 
imitating the shrieks and screams of animals, felt a strong desire to bite, and became 
frightfully contorted.' At the convent of Cologne in 1564, it began with one nun, and 
was by her communicated to the one whose bed was next to her, and immediately after 
to the whole convent. In 1566, the foundling children at Amsterdam were attacked with 
convulsions and delirium, during which ' they spoke foreign languages, and knew what was 
passing elsewhere, even in the great council of the city ; and they even clambered along walls 
like cats, and along the roofs of houses.' The same had happened in Rome in 1555, in the 
Orphan Asylum in that city, where it is said ' about seventy young girls became demoniacs, 
and continued in that state more than two years.' Of the Sisters of St. Bridget, who 
had the disease for ten years, all had the faculty of improvising long discourses under 
inspirational influence. 

" The nuns at Loudun suffered from ' frightful disquietude of mind ; hysterical 
symptoms, convulsions of extreme violence, producing singular contortions, catalepsy, and 
hallucinations all bearing on subjects of religious enthusiasm. As to their cries, it was 
what might be conceived of the bellowing of the condemned.' They also spoke in foreign 
tongues with which they were not previously acquainted, and by that we come to the 
knowledge of a curious portion of the Roman ritual, by which they were tried, to ' find 
any of the three symptoms required by it as a sign of being truly possessed by the Devil ; 
and which are, divination, the understanding of languages which the person has not learned, 
and a supernatural strength of body.' Six of the clerical and magisterial functionaries 
who had been brought into contact with the nuns as judges, caught the disease. There 
was an unusual exaltation of some of the intellectual faculties, a power of improvising, 
and of inner vision or thought reading, as to wliich Mr. Madden observes, ' that they 
differ in no respect from the phenomena of magnetism.' 

" The cases were all more or less connected with religious ideas, but were also much 
mixed up, as we might expect, with the prevalent middle age notions of diabolic possession. 

" A case similar to those occurring in the middle ages amongst the children of Amster- 
dam and the nuns in the convents, happened within the last seven years in Piedmont, 
and went through the Continental papers — ' A number of young girls in the district all 
at once left their schools and homes and went into the fields and woods, roaming, and 
behaving in the wildest way. Exhortations to return being insufficient, the clergy were 
called to exorcise the poor girls, who repelled them, calling them devils and sorcerers ; 
many of them got up trees and on the roofs of houses, and refused to come down.' 

" Dr. Kerner relates that, ' At the village of Neuhutte, in Wurtemberg, which is situate 
among the mountains, a sort of St. Vitus' dance becomes epidemic chiefly amongst young 
people, so that all the children of the place are seized with it at the same time. Like 
persons in a magnetic state, they are aware of the precise moment that a fit will seize them, 
and if they are in the fields they hasten home and immediately fall into a convulsion, in 
which condition they will move for an hour or more with the most surprising regularity, 
keeping measure like an accomplished dancer, after which they awake as if out of a 
magnetic sleep." 

Mr. Howitt very justly complains that " the resemblance of one set of 
phenomena to another does not explain any." What then ? Is there no 



384 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

explanation to be rendered of states so utterly abnormal to all known 
procedures of natural law ? Speaking authoritatively, we must answer — 
in our present utter ignorance of Spiritual science and its laws — No ; but 
judging analogically from what we do know of Spiritual potencies, we 
deem it quite possible that there are mental and magnetic storms, 
contagions, and epidemics, generated by conditions, and proceeding upon 
laws of which at present we are in total ignorance, but which assuredly 
originate in planetary and geologic changes, with just as much regularity 
and order as do contagious maladies and epidemic diseases. The very 
fact that they prevail in special districts proves that they obey some 
unknown but potential physical law ; whilst the invariability with which 
they propagate their effects by contact, proves that the affection is of a 
nervous, and from thence of a mental type, and that the malarmtn, or 
pabulum of infection is a magnetic one. Awaiting the day when the physiology 
of mind shall be as carefully studied and its healthful or diseased states as 
scientifically dealt with as the physiology of the material body, we must 
for the present quit the realm of hypothesis, and pass on to notice the next 
representative case of Swiss Spiritualism. 

The narrative we are now about to cite has been published in many 
languages and widely circulated through the Continental journals of the 
period, 1862-3. The best and most impartial summary of the case is to 
be found in the London Spiritual Magazine of February, 1864, written by 
Mr. WilHam Howitt, under the caption of — 

"persecution and expulsion from his patrimonial house of m. 
joller, of the swiss national council, by disorderly spirits." 

The extracts which we find most pertinent to this case, taken from Mr. 
Howitt's narrative, commence as follows : — 

" In the third volume of this magazine, p. 499, the reader will find an article headed 
' Manifestations at Lucerne.' This article consists of extracts from difi'erent Swiss news- 
papers, giving an account of the extraordinary appearances, noises, and other annoyances 
going on, from the autumn of 1860 to that of 1862, in the house of M. Joller, at Stans, 
a village on the borders of the Lake of Lucerne. Some of these newspapers, in the usual 
style of such journals, were inclined to be witty, if not wise, over these occurrences ; but 
a correspondent well known to us, and one of our most valued contributors, had taken the 
trouble to go himself to Stans, and ascertain what were the facts on the spot. He tells us 
that he found M. Joller, a lawyer, a man of middle age, having several children, his eldest 
son being about twenty. That he bore an excellent character, and was well known 
throughout the country. He found Stans a village about an hour's sail by steamboat 
from Lucerne, standing in a charming valley one or two miles from the shore, fruitful, 
well peopled, by no means sombre or solitary, and surrounded by magnificent mountains. 
M. Joller confirmed the supernatural facta which have proved so startling to the public, 
and so grievous to him. The letter of our correspondent is dated the 4th of October, 
1862. On the 22nd of the same month, or only eighteen days later, M. Joller was com- 
pelled by these unpitying poUer-geister to abandon his hereditary home, with all his 
family. 

" M. Joller has now published the story of his unmerited sufferings and banishment 
from his natal hearth by these troublesome intruders, in a small brochure of ninety-one 
pages. This little book now lies before us, and certainly no more extraordinary case of 
supernatural persecution has yet been put on record. 

" Every one familiar with the Lake of Lucerne, must have a pretty good idea of the 
situation of Stans, when it is said that from M. JoUer's house. Mount Pilatus on the one 
hand, and the Rigi on the other, are in full view. This house and property, M. Joller 
informs us, had been in the possession of his family for about a hundred years. 

" It was in this house that M. Joller, an active and popular lawyer, and member of 
the national council, lived from the death of his father in 1845, to the summer of 1862, in 
peace and happiness. Then, suddenly, in the autumn of 1860, uncanny sounds and 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 385 

sights began to show themselves to the astonishment of all, and for some time to the per- 
severing disbelief of M. Joller, ' In my house,' he says, ' bloomed seven healthy children, 
four boys and three girls. In our abode superstition ever had been a rejected thing ; 
and I may assert that scarcely any family had been brought up with so little fear of 
ghosts as mine.' 

" The troublesome visitations made their dehM by first rapping on the bedstead of the 
servant-maid, raps which she said she not only heard but felt, one night in the autumn 
of 1860. She immediately expressed her belief that this was the token of an approaching 
death in the family. The maid slept in a room on the third story, so that it could not 
well be any mischievous person playing a trick ; but M. Joller strictly commanded her to 
keep her superstitious notions to herself, and ascribed the raps to the girl's own imagina- 
tion, which she would, however, on no account admit. The rapping was not again repeated 
for some weeks, but after that interval M. Joller came home from a temporary absence 
and found his family in great alarm. His wife and second daughter, sleeping in his own 
room, had been awaked by loud rappings on a table in the room. On demanding if it 
were any living agent, that it should rap again, it did so promptly. They also now 
entertained the notion that it was the messenger of death, and a letter informing them in 
a few days of the decease of a friend, confirmed that idea. They were soon, however, to 
be convinced that it was nothing temporary. In June, 1861, one of the boys, nine years 
of age, being in a wood-chamber on the third story, was found in a swoon. As he was a 
stout and fearless lad, great was the wonder, and on coming to himself, he said as he was 
in the chamber he heard knocks on the door, of which he took no notice, but immediately 
afterwards a white indistinct figure opened the door and entered, when he lost con- 
sciousness. This M. Joller endeavoured to account for by the erudite solvent of all 
difficulties — imagination. But M. Joller was not to be let off so easily. The other boys 
in their bedroom heard noises in the night in the rooms above and below them, and called 
out to know who was making the noise. M. Joller endeavoured to persuade them that 
they were cats or rats, or birds that made the noises ; and yet he now recollected to have 
heard similar sounds on his own writing table, and that frequently, two years ago. 

" In the autumn of 1861, the maid renewed her complaints. She said she was afraid 
of remaining alone in the kitchen. As she cleaned the shoes in an evening on the steps 
near the kitchen door, grey shapes appeared from the cellar below. They came upstairs 
into her chamber, and she heard them sobbing in the fourth story, which was a lumber 
room. Mrs. Joller scolded her for her fancies. But the same things appeared to the 
children, and the youngest daughter about eleven years old, at her studies in the day, 
saw a child enter, walk up to her, and vanish. The maid-servant was dismissed in 
October of 1862, and a girl of only thirteen taken in her place to do the more common 
work of the house, the mother and daughters, in Swiss fashion, undertaking the rest. 
From that time to the summer of 1862 all was quiet, the medium seemed to have gone 
in the maid ; but this was not the case, for two of the boys who slept in a chamber 
leading by a terrace into the garden, declared that they still heard at nights knocking on 
the 'walls ; others said that they heard in the rooms above a going to and fro as of a heavy 
dog, and knockings on the walls and the floors. Still M. Joller endeavoured to persuade 
his family that these sounds proceeded from merely natural causes. 

" On the 15th of August, M. Joller had occasion to visit Lucerne, with his wife and 
eldest son, and on his return the rest of the children had relations of fresh apparitions to 
make. This time he threatened them sternly with the rod if he heard any more ' such 
nonsense ; ' and the children complained sorrowfully that ' their father would believe 
nothing.' But the very same forenoon the children were frightened out of the house by 
knockings, and as they sat down on the doorsteps leading to the gardens, a pebble the 
size of a man's fist was thrown from somewhere above or from the house, and fell 
betwixt two of them. Returning to the house they found all the doors of the rooms, 
drawers, and cupboards standing open. These they closed and locked, only to see them 
fly open again. They then locked the door of the chamber adjoining the sitting-room, 
and bolted it with the night bolt, but notwithstanding both, it was thrown open, and all 
the windows and doors standing open were as suddenly closed. Hearing also a heavy 
step on the stairs, though nobody was visible, they flew again into the garden. Return- 
ing at noon to dinner, they saw a strange spectre on the staircase, and hurried once 
more into the garden with the dinner apparatus, and took refuge under a large walnut 
tree. As the girl carried the plates out from the kitchen, she saw doors still opening and 
shutting and the children from the garden saw all the windows open. 

" The disturbances now came thicker and faster. The humming of spinning-wheels 
was heard in the house ; occasionally a strange music ; furniture began to move about ; 
then the music was accompanied by the audible singing in a melancholy tone, of 
Camilla's prayer in Zampa, ' Oleiches Loos,' &c., and a voice said in the Nidwalden patois, 
' Wenn au gar niemer umen isch / ' ' If I should never come again ! ' Still more extra- 

25 



386 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

ordinary, not only they, but the woman of the adjoining house, saw on the house floor, 
drawn with the accuracy of an engraving, a snow-white figure with a death's head, which 
they watched for some time till it faded quite out. The same evening, on a fire being 
kindled in the ground story, called the hut, a conical figure surrounded by flames, came 
down the chimney, and, dissolving into water, drowned the fire out, and raised a wild 
cry from the maid and children, which brought down the mother, who found the group 
sitting in the abutting house of the tenant weeping in terror. 

" M. JoUer now received information of like things going on in other places, from 
persons of education and intelligence, but he still persisted in ascribing these things to 
natural causes. But the time was now come for him to meet the enemy face to face. 
On the 19th of August, as he arrived at home in the evening, his wife called him into the 
house passage to hear the knocking going on. Then he soon had ample evidence that the 
stories of the maids and children had foundation enough. The knocking went on briskly 
on the wall before him ; then in the scullery. He followed, putting his ear close to the 
place, and pretending that it must be a rat, struck some heavy blows on the wall to 
frighten the rat away. To his astonishment, the blows were returned with equal vigour 
and in equal number. He then called for a candle, and examined the passage and 
scullery closely. In vain ; so he summoned his family to the sitting-room, declared he 
would find it all out next morning ; and bringing Zschokke's ' Book of Family Worship,' 
began to read aloud his 28th chapter, namely, ' On the Power of Superstition.' 

" The spirit, however, cared neither for M. Joller nor Zschokke, but began pounding 
on the room door so vigorously, that his reading was soon brought to an end, and the 
children asked triumphantly, ' Is that a rat, then ? ' 

" Incensed at this, and strongly persuaded that some one was playing the fool with 
him, he seized a candle, armed himself with a stiletto, and sallied forth to hunt out the 
villain. The outer doors and windows being fast, he felt sure that he must soon detect 
him. He descended to the cellar, made a vigorous search amongst ^he barrels and behind 
the door. Nothing there ! but above his head the knocking was now going on blithely. 
He ascended, followed the sound from place to place ; sometimes with his candle, some- 
times without it, stealing along in the dark to pounce on the rogue. Talking nothing by his 
motion, however, he ordered all to bed. The noises nevertheless became such, that the 
whole family had flown together into one room, and there the knocking came. The 
bedstead was seized and banged against the wall till the whole bed shook. M. Joller 
examined under the bed and into every corner of the room, but in vain, though he found 
the doors and windows all fast. As he was thus employed, he heard raps on the chairs, 
and felt a soft stroking on the forefinger of his left hand. 

" From this time till that when the family was driven from the house, the haunting 
was almost incessant ; and the knockings, the throwing about of furniture, the visible 
presentment of spirits has rarely had a parallel in the history of such phenomena. There 
might have been room to suppose that the maids and children had given way to imaginary 
fears, but from this time forward the disorders became the subject of incessant pubUc 
observation. The news flew about, spite of all M. Joller's endeavours to keep it at home; 
and hundreds and thousands of people flocked from the country round to witness the 
proceedings — and did witness them in crowds 

" The next morning he kept his word, and made a thorough examination of the house; 
and the spirits gave him the amplest opportunity to try his skill. They knocked every- 
where, till he saw the very wainscot bend beneath their blows. As he was bom in the 
house, and as an inquisitive lad, had watched all repairs going on at diflerent periods, he 
says there was not a handbreadth of its wall or roof that was not familiar to him. The 
knockings were everywhere. Now thumping on a door, he opened it, and held it fast in 
his hands, when the knocks were given on each side at once. On one occasion he stood 
with a chamber door ajar, and suddenly pulling it open as the first knock fell on it, saw a 
dark figure outside ; but before he could spring forward, his wife and a daughter who were 
in the room, simultaneously cried out that they saw a brown bony arm at the moment 
withdrawn from the door. They did this so completely together that he was convinced 
that each saw the same thing. The servant flew upstairs to say that she had heard 
something come down the stairs, and three times groaningly exclaim, ' Take pity on me !' 
She added that she looked eagerly, but could see nothing ; yet soon after she saw a grey 
transparent Httle cloud float in at the kitchen window, and pass with a vibrating motion 
to the chamber door, where it had knocked loudly. 

" Driven to a late conviction of what he had to deal with, M. Joller hastened to beg 
the Commissary Niederberger to come and see these things ; but he being absent, Father 
Guardian came, and watched the phenomena with deep interest, but without being able 
to suggest a solution of the cause. He thought an investigation by men of authority 
should take place ; but M. Joller, dreading the consequences of publicity, for the present 
hesitated. The Father bestowed the usual blessing on the house and withdrew. The 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 387 

bewildered M. Joller then drew out his dust-covered college notes on experimental physics, 
made at Munich, while attending the class of Professor Sieber, but they afforded him 
no light. 

" Neither the blessing of the reverend Father, nor the philosophical enquiry suspended 
the disturbances for an instant. The next day, as the Court of Justice was sitting at 
Lucerne, he was obliged to attend on busines, but he was sent for before the Court rose, 
the house at home being in the most frightful uproar. Arriving, he found all his family 
in the open air, not daring to stay under the roof. Numbers of people were collected on 
the high road looking at the house, in great excitement. Having no fear, he entered the 
house, and found the doors madly flying open and then banging to with a violence that 
threatened to demolish them. In the kitchen he found the glasses, bottles, and earthen- 
ware standing on the table ringing as if struck mth a metallic instrument. The knockings 
were in so many parts of the house at once, that had it been men who did it, it would 
have required four or five, yet not a man was in the house except himself. He here called 
in an old friend, the Councillor Zimmermann, Dr. K. von Deschwanden, an accomplished 
natural philosopher ; the President of the Court of Justice, Obermatt, Judge Schallberger, 
Master Builder Aloys Amstad, and Drawing Master Obermatt. These gentlemen wit- 
nessed with astonishment the phenomena. They sought everywhere for some physical 
cause, and propounded many theories of Vulcanism, magnetism, galvanism, electricity, 
&c. But at length they went away as much puzzled as many other scientific men had 
been in like circumstances. 

" The next day, Mr. President Obermatt brought other gentlemen to witness the dis- 
turbances, and one of these suggested whether it might not be some electrical machine 
on the premises which was grown thus riotous, when the eldest son of M. Joller, who had 
been cautioned by his father to be secret on the real cause, coucediugly observed that it 
might be so. This was enough. It does not appear that there was any electrical machine 
on the premises, but the frolics of the spirits went on with a violence that no twenty 
electrical machines in the house could account for. Doors were fiercely flung open, bolts 
and bars dashed vehemently back. Figures were seen by different people, and the second 
son fainted and fell at the sight of one. The house was now rarely unoccupied by crowds 
of people, before whom the manifestations went on in full force and vai'iety. Before the 
Land-Captain Zelger, the Director of PoHce Jann, Dr. Christen, the President of the Court 
of Justice again, and many other persons of condition, the Episcopal Commissary 
Niederberger, and Father Guardian made a very vigorous examination of the house, and 
retired advising a thorough physical commission of inquiry ; but believing its origin to 
be still beyond the scope of such a commission. 

''Something was become highly necessary ; the house was crowded from morning to 
night ; some talked of and hunted for the electrical machine ; others challenged the devil 
to come out ; and others, who had happened to hear that the eldest son of M. Joller had 
been seen speaking with an actor in the streets of Lucerne, declared that it was all sorcery, 
and that young Joller had learned it of the player. The police-director, Jann, sent in two 
policemen to keep watch that the house was not plundered by thieves amongst the crowds. 
As the conduct of the visitors, both in the flesh and out of it, grew every day more out- 
rageous, though a number of watchers were maintained throughout the nights ; as the 
spirits grew bolder and showed themselves more openly ; and as M. Joller feeized one of 
the hands of the spirits and felt distinctly the thumb and fingers, which soon, however, 
drew themselves away ; he went and demanded a formal examination of the house by the 
police authorities. This was accorded, and three of the heads of the police were appointed 
to prosecute the inquiry. Up to this moment the disturbances continued in full play. 
The directors of police ordered M. Joller to withdraw with his whole family from the 
house, and take up their quarters elsewhere. They were then left to themselves and 
profound silence for sis days. No knock was heard, no ghost appeared, no door or window 
opened or shut of itself. The profound Dogberries of the police, therefore, drew up a 
report that there was nothing at aU amiss, and returned to Lucerne in the pride of 
ignorance of aU psychology, and of having shown up the whole affair. These worthy 
souls knew nothing at all about mediums. M. Joller did not even understand that he had 
carried the mediums along with him ; but he knew the moment that he recrossed his own 
threshold that the old ghostly power was there in all its force. 

" The tide of popular ridicule was now let loose against the unfortunate Joller. The 
Press was in a heaven of triumph over the follies of this superstitious man. Though 
thousands had seen the very things that he asserted to exist ; though police-director Jann, 
judges, magistrates, and dignified clergy had all witnessed the phenomena, poor Joller and 
his family were treated as little less than lunatics. The thing was the talk of all 
Switzerland, and what wounded M. Joller most deeply was, that all his political services 
and sacrifices to liberal opinion were at once forgotten. His own party, to a man, joined 
in deriding him ; even those with whom he had stood side by side in battle against 



388 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

political corruptions, threw their sarcasms at him. As is so often the case, however, some 
of his political opponents, whom he had hit the hardest and spared the least, now stood 
nobly forward and defended him, as an honourable, meritorious, and trustworthy man. 

" In vain did M. JoUer protest against the injustice of his neighbours : in vain did he 
insist on another poHce examination conducted in whatever manner the authorities 
pleased, so that the family should be in the house : the one already made was held to 
settle the whole question. On the contrary, however, the annoyances held their uninter- 
I'upted course from this time, the 4th of September, to the 22nd of October, when they 
finally drove him and his family out. It is still a long story, but we can only notice a few 
of the most striking phenomena. Chairs and other furniture continued to change their 
places, apparently at their own pleasure. Broken pots and glass, an old axe, cobs of 
Indian corn, a sickle, a great iron ring, were repeatedly brought out of the kitchen and 
cellar, and thrust into a stove in a chamber, locked up and the key in possession of 
M. Joller. In full sunshine at noon, the eldest daughter saw in the garden, as she thought, 
the maid servant climbing the lattice-work on the house side to gather grapes. She saw 
her dress so distinctly, her hair net, smooth hair, and dark neckerchief, that she called 
aloud to her, when to her astonishment she saw the maid issue from the kitchen below to 
see what was wanted : and the figure, as if crouching under the vine leaves, disappeared. 
" For some days there had been a plucking of leafy branches and flinging of them into 
the chamber windows, or upon the heads of persons passing below, when on the 12th of 
September, as the whole family sat at coffee at half -past two in the day, three students 
being present, and the maid in the room, a great noise was heard in the salon above. All 
rushed up and saw the room in singular disorder. From the wall on the left hand a large 
engraving was taken down and laid on the floor. Two pier glasses were taken from the 
wall and laid down in like manner, A parasol that had stood in a corner was spread out 
over an ornamental hanging lamp. Stools and curtains were thrown confusedly on a 
heap ; and all the chairs were heaped one upon another around the table. Everything 
being restored to order, and the room carefully locked, the next morning early, the room 
was found in a still greater state of chaos, as well as an adjoining chamber. 

" M. Joller having to go to Lucei-ne to pay in some money, heard, on his return, from 
his family, that they had, in an adjoining chamber, heard the distinct counting out of 
money, piece by piece, and the rolls of it successively pushed aside, so that they were 
inclined to believe that there must be somebody there so engaged. On looking, however, 
they found nobody. On mentioning the time he found it agree exactly with that in 
which he was then counting his money at the bank. At another time, as he was then at 
some distance on the estate, watching the felling and cutting up of timber, his wife and 
children at home heard the chopping and splitting of wood in the cellar. On the 16th of 
September they were astonished by the hopping and daricing of an apple, which came 
flying downstairs against the house door, and passed by M. Joller in the passage at several 
bounds into the kitchen. The servant, busy at her cooking stove, seized it, and laid it on 
the kitchen table, when it soon sprung away and hopped into the passage. The girl 
seized it again, and flung it through the window, but it soon came flying back through the 
same window, bounded on the table, thence into the passage, the sitting-room, and finally 
into the adjoining chamber, when it flew into a corner and remained quiet. A pear 
descended from the ceiling, near M. Joller, with such force as to lie smashed on the floor. 
Other pieces of pear were flung at the girls while at work, and hung in their hair nets. 

" The family were repeatedly assailed with showers of stones, both in the house and in 
the garden. At twelve o'clock in the day, while at the well, a shower of stones fell round 
one of the daughters without any striking her, and at the same time a sharp-edged wall 
stone fell down the kitchen chimney, striking the lid of a pan on the fire, and then falling 
to the floor without bringing a trace of soot with it. A knitting needle took to flying 
about from room to room, and being thrown out into the garden, it flew back again. 
There were continually sounds of humming and spinning wheels, and the drawing up of 
clock chains. On the 16th of September a voice deep and groaning, said distinctly, as out 
of the wall : " Jetzt homme ich nimmer " — " Now I come no more ! " but it did not keep 
its word, or other actors stayed behind, for more variety of annoyances were played off 
than can be here enumerated. 

" During all this time the unceremonious intrusion of people continued, so that there 
could be no domestic privacy, neither could the family affairs, or the legal business of M. 
Joller go on. He was, therefore, compelled to seek another home, and abandon this, his 
natal one, on the 22nd of October, 1862. 

" Sach is a brief notice of M. Joller's case, undoubtedly, taken altogether, the most 
extraordinary which has occurred of late years. In closing it, he says, that a great many 
similar ones, but none so outrageous have been brought to his knowledge by persons of 
the moat unquestionable character. That he could cite a long catalogue of witnesses of 
his unhappy spirit-persecution, but that it is too notorious to need it. The house, he says. 



NINE TEE NTH _ CENTUR V MIR A CLES. 389 

stood empty till the following spring, when he succeeded in letting it, and that up to 
the time of his writing this account, nothing particular had disturbed the new tenant, 
nor had the troublers followed him. It may be conceived what a serious affair it had 
proved to him in interruption of business and family life, in loss of peace of mind, and in 
infliction of censorious remarks. The nuisance of the invading crowd must, of itself, have 
been intolerable ; for when compelled to lock his doors against them, they procured 
ladders and broke in at his chamber window. 

" The most striking feature of M. Joller's case is the entire ignorance of the nature of 
haunting spirits both by M. Joller, the police, and the clergy of the neighbourhood. As 
for M. Joller, evidently a Catholic by faith, he seems to have had no idea of getting rid of 
his persecutors by prayers and earnest appeal to the God of all spirits. A worthy man, 
he goes on suffering, and is actually driven from his home, without an idea that these 
troublesome guests might have been sent away instead. These were evidently unhappy 
spirits seeking aid from the first mediums they could meet with. They found these in M. 
Joller's house ; but they were mediums without that knowledge which mediums instructed 
by Spiritualism possess. These unhappy souls were repeatedly heard sobbing and groaning 
and exclaiming, ' Erbarmet euch meiner /' 'Have mercy on me !' They wanted the 
prayers and good offices of M. Joller and his family, and failing to make them comprehend 
this, they grew desperate ; the worst instead of the best feelings of then* natures were 
excited, and in their rage at being able to make these mediums perceive but not to under- 
stand them, they grew to resemble fiends in their wild passions rather than miserable 
supplicants. The consequence was that instead of being soothed by sympathy and gently 
dismissed on an upward course, as the Seeress of Prevorst often dismissed such, M. Joller 
was most unnecessarily driven from his own long-loved hearth. M. Joller, with all his 
worth and secular knowledge, is, in fact, the victim of ignorance — and a standing warn- 
ing to men of education to pay some little attention to the psychological facts that are 
daily rising around them. 

" It is satisfactory to see that a learned professor of one of the Swiss Colleges has 
prefaced M. Joller's pamphlet by an assertion of the truth and the real nature of these 
phenomena, and contends that it is the duty of psychology and natural science, not to 
ignore these frequent facts, but to throw fresh light on them by honest enquiry." 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 

SPIRITUALISM. IN ITALY. 



Were Spirit communion still fettered by the chains of superstition thrown 
around it during the early and middle ages of human history, no land would 
afford a wider or fairer field Jor occult research than beautiful Italy. 

The sunny skies, lovely scenery, and memorable history of Italy, naturally 
impress its people with a sentiment of romanticism peculiarly favourable to 
the reception of Spiritualistic beliefs and teachings. 

In all lands too, overlaid with the vestiges of ancient civilizations there 
seems to be an imperishable aura of Magnetism which renders the very 
ground, and every object it sustains, Mediumistic. 

Every foot of Italian soil is charged with the emanations of vanished 
generations. Rome has her catacombs in the streets as well as beneath 
them, Milan, Pisa, Florence, once stately Venice, and — in a word — every 
city and town of this memorable country, is a "psychometric" record 
engraved with -images conserved in " the Astral light," which has been 
accumulating during the succeeding generations of more than two thousand 
years. 

It scarcely needs the clear eye of the Spirit to recall these images into 
undying existence. Their mark remains in the conglomerate sphere which 
pervades the air, and vibrates beneath every footfall. Well may the modern 



39° 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



traveller feel the impress of ancient Italy closing around him, and envelop- 
ing him in the mysterious shadows of the past ; and this, even when his own 
imaginative nature affords him no scope for expressing the strange mournful 
influences which weigh upon his spirit, or the awe which possesses him as 
the forms which he knows to be commingled with the dust beneath his feet, 
seem to start into life from every gray ruin, and reappear in the indelible 
photography impressed on every vestige of the past, by the sunbeam of 
long succeeding ages. 

Our part in this volume however is to deal with the mere actualities of 
life, both here and hereafter, as revealed through the rifts of that veil of 
mystery — now happily rent in twain — which has so long enshrouded the 
soul's destiny beyond " the valley of the shadow." 

Speaking then only of the Italy of to-day, we find that the phenomena 
of modern Spiritualism were believed in amongst many well informed 
Italians, long before any notice was called to the subject in the public press. 
It would be difficult at this time to say when or with whom modern 
Spiritualism originated in Italy, but one of the earliest public accounts that 
was given of its progress was — as usual — a bulletin issued from the enemies' 
camp. 

This appeared in the form of an article printed in the well-known 
Roman journal. La Civitta Catholica. 

The article in question was entitled, "Modern Necromancy," and after 
describing with remarkable candour the wide-spread influence which the 
said necromantic practices had obtained, and that, " in the best society of 
Italy," the editor proceeded to draw the conclusions, of which the following 
is an almost literal translation : — 

"1st. Some of the phenomena may be attributed to imposture, hallucination, and 
exaggeration in the reports of those who describe it, but there is a foundation of reality 
in the general sum of the reports which cannot have originated in pure invention or be 
wholly discredited without ignoring the value of universal testimony. 

" 2nd. The bulk of the theories offered in explanation of the proven facts, only cover 
a certain percentage of those facts, but utterly fail to account for the balance 

" 3rd. Allowing for all that can be filtered away on mere human hypotheses, there 
are still a large class of phenomena appealing to every sense which cannot be accounted 
for by any known natural laws, and which seem to manifest the action of intelligent 
!," &c., &c. 



In the summary drawn from these and similar propositions, the editor 
satisfies hwiself at least that the agency at work in the production of 
modern Spiritualism is supra-mundane. Spiritual, and diabolic; that "the 
author is Satan, and the agents his accredited legions," &c., &c. Now 
whilst this Italian editor's theory had not even the merit of novelty to 
recommend it, certain it is, that its publication was most apropos and 
subserved all the purpose that the warmest Spiritual propagandist could 
desire. It was copied into most of the leading journals of Italy, and formed 
the best circulating Medium that the occasion could have called for. 

In all probabihty the diatribes of the aforesaid editor were principally 
directed against the friends and converts of the celebrated European 
Medium, Mr. D. D. Home, who had visited Italy in 1854, and after 
spending some time in Florence, Rome, and Naples, had been feted, 
courted, and honoured by many of the most distinguished royal and noble 
potentates of the land. 

Although Mr. Home does not dwell on his Italian experiences at any 
great length in his autobiography, the influence he exerted made a deep 
and permanent mark upon the society he left behind. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 391 

Shortly after Mr. Home's departure, circles were formed in numeroQS 
families of distinction. Societies for the investigation of the phenomena 
were organized, in which many persons renowned for learning and Hterary 
attainments took part, whilst Mr. Home's friends and enemies both 
became entangled in journalistic controversies, which kept the subject 
constantly before the public. Meantime, reports of strange phenomena 
occurring spontaneously in different parts of the country, filled the columns 
of the journals, and continued to keep interest in the sulDJect at fever heat. 
Within the very shadow of the Pontifical walls at Rome, a notorious case 
of bell ringing occurred which baffled all the efforts of the police to account 
for. When the law failed, priestly exorcism was tried and proved equally 
inefficacious. The annoyance ceased as mysteriously as it commenced, 
but was immediately succeeded by reports of unaccountable stone throwings 
occurring in three different parts of the city of Rome, and on the premises 
of persons, whose good standing in society, precluded all idea of deception 
or fraud. Whilst the public mind was being strongly exercised on these 
disturbances, whilst priestly exhortations were contributing to excite attention 
by imploring the people " to resist the wiles of Satan," and tidings were 
circulated of similar occurrences at Naples, Palermo, and Florence, a 
strong Spiritual impulse was given to the subject by the publication of a 
paper issued at Geneva by Dr. Pietro Gatti and Signor B. E. Manieri, 
entitled // A?nore del Vero. 

In this journal the editors republished accounts of the Spiritual move- 
ment, as it was transpiring in America, France, and England. 

As Dr. Gatti, the chief editor, was known to be a man of probity and 
sound sense, holding moreover the responsible position of director of the 
Homoeopathic Hospital at Geneva, the immense flood of testimony that was 
disseminated through his journal, served materially to deepen public interest 
on the subject of Spiritual manifestations. 

Against this tide of constantly increasing enthusiasm, the anathemas of 
the Church and the sneers of the press made no headway ; in point of fact, 
the reiterated thunders of ecclesiasticism only served to awaken the people 
to a sense of its imbecihty, and show the resistless strength of the power 
against which the clergy launched their impotent threats. 

Those who have beheld with astonishment, the political battle for freedom 
waged so successfully on Itahan soil, little know that some of the noblest 
soldiers in this grand patriotic warfare, were Spiritualists, and that it was 
from the communications of mighty and exalted Spirits, that such men as 
Victor Emmanuel, Garibaldi, and their compatriots, received some of their 
wisest and most encouraging counsels. It is now no longer a secret, that 
many eminent Italian reformers of the day were and are Spiritualists. 
When the eye of the soul shall behold no longer "as in a glass darkly " but 
face to face with actual truth, it will be seen, that the great lever of all the 
reforms that are agitating the social, political, and religious arenas of human 
thought, in the nineteenth century, has been SpirituaUsm, and that in its 
subtle but irresistible appeals to consciousness and reason, the age has 
moved forward centuries in advance of the past. 

In the spring of 1863, a society was formed at Palerm.o, entitled // Societa 
Spiritista di Palermo. The president was Signor J. V. Paleologo. Signor 
Paolo Morello, professor of history and philosophy, became with many 
others of equal standing, members of this society, and a regular organ, 
besides many publications of interest, were put forth under its auspices. 

In March, 1864, the attention of the Genevese public was attracted to 



392 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

the case of a young girl residing in Hospital Street, who for several weeks 
was followed by the phenomena of loud poundings and stone throwing. 
The police were appealed to. The house was guarded within and without, 
and though the spectators who watched the girl's residence from the roofs 
of adjoining houses, could see the stones flying, and those within the dwel- 
ing were pelted with them, the agents were all invisible and never discovered. 
As is customary in such cases, the daily publication of the attendant 
circumstances, drew forth accounts of similar occurrences all over Italy. 
Dr. Gatti called attention in his journal to one phenomenon however, which 
we venture to allege accompanies nearly every well authenticated narrative 
of stone throwing, and that was the total absence of any personal injury 
occurring from the missiles thrown. "Whilst the stones were flying thickly 
in every direction," says Dr. Gatti, "no one was struck, although the said 
stones often fell within a few inches of the observers." The church may 
scream " Demoniac !" as long as it will. Let it point to any mob of human 
stone throwers who would be thus careful to avoid injury to their fellow 
mortals ; or any mortal ruffian who would not aim the stone for the express 
purpose of committing injury rather than avoiding it ! 

If this be so, and the histories of Spiritualism and humanity running in 
parallel lines clearly prove it, then let the Church graciously inform us 
which class best deserves the name of " demons," the Christian rioters who 
throw stones for the purpose of murder, or the Spirits whose only object is 
to compel attention to the fact of their existence ? If the Church had only 
had a few facts, as tangible as the falling of a pebble, to prove its assertions 
instead of making assertions without a particle of fact to prove them, it 
would not require the inhabitants of the other world to offer such striking 
proofs of their continued existence, as stone throwing. 

It was about the autumn of 1864, that lectures were first given on 
Spiritualistic subjects in Italy. They were started in Leghorn and Messina, 
and though bf a very mixed character, and often partaking largely of the 
lecturer's peculiar idiosyncrasies on religious subjects, they served to draw 
attention to the upheaval of thought going on in all directions, in connec- 
tion with the revelations from the Spirit world. It could not be expected 
that a movement so startling and unprecedented as that which opened up 
a direct communion between the natural and the Spiritual worlds could 
gain ground in public acceptance without waking up all the latent elements 
of enthusiasm, fanaticism, ignorance, and bigotry, which prevailed in the 
Italian as in every other community. In a word, Spiritualism seems to 
have acted like the summer sunbeam, stirring up malaria and fever from 
the fetid dust heap, and kindUng into bloom and beauty the slumbering life 
of the blossom. " It is a hothouse process," says the author's most trusted 
Spirit guide, " which creates nothing, but quickens into abnormal activity, 
the latent germs of all that is in humanity whether for good or evil." 

In the year 1870, there had been over a hundred different societies 
formed, with varying success, in different parts of Italy. Two of the most 
prominent flourishing at that date were conducted in Naples, and according 
to the French journal, the Revue Spirite, represented the two opposing 
schools which have prevailed in Continental Spiritualism, namely, the " Re- 
incarnationists " whom we have before classified as " Spiritists," and 
the *• Immortalists," or those known in America and England merely as 
" Spiritualists." 

About 1868, an immense impulse was communicated to the cause of 
Spiritualism— at least in the higher strata of Italian society — by the visit of 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 393 

Mr. and Mrs. Guppy to Naples, at which place they took up their residence 
for two or three years. 

Mrs. Guppy — nee Miss Nichol — of London, was renowned throughout 
Europe for her marvellous powers as a " physical force Medium," and as 
Mr. Guppy's wealth and social standing enabled him to place his gifted 
wife's services at the command of the distinguished and princely visitors 
who crowded his salons, it soon became a matter of notoriety that the 
highest magnates of the land, including King Victor Emmanuel and many of 
his nearest friends and counsellors, had yielded conviction to the truth of 
the astounding phenomena exhibited through Mrs. Guppy's Mediumship. 

It was about the year 1863, that Spiritualism began to enjoy the advan- 
tage of fair and honourable representation in the columns of a new paper 
entitled, the Annali dello Spiritismo, or " Annals of Spiritualism." This 
excellent journal — now in its twentieth or twenty-first year — was commenced 
at Turin, and published by Signor Niceforo Filalete, with all the liberality, 
energy, and talent worthy alike of the subject and its noble editor. 

From the columns of the Annali we learn that a Venetian Society of 
Spiritualists, named " Atea," elected the illustrious General Giuseppe Gari- 
baldi their honorary president, and received the following reply by telegraph 
from the distinguished hero, the liberator of Italy : " I gratefully accept the 
presidency of the Society Atea. Caprera, 23rd September." 

The same issue of the Annali contains a verbatim report of " a grand 
discourse " given at Florence, by a distinguished literary gentleman, Signor 
Sebastiano Fenzi, in which the listeners were considerably astonished by a 
rehearsal of the many illustrious names of those who — in Europe — openly 
avowed their faith in Spiritualism. 

The years 1863-4 appear to have been rich in Spiritualistic efforts. Besides 
a large number of minor associations, the existence of which was recorded 
from time to time in the early numbers of the Annali and Revue Spirite, a 
society which continued for a long time to exSrt a marked influence in 
promoting the study of occult forces and phenomena, was formed about 
this time in Florence, under the caption of "The Magnetic Society of 
Florence." The members of this association were without exception 
persons remarkable for literary and scientific attainments, or those of high 
influential position in society. 

The following is a fair translation of the rules, &c., which were printed 
and circulated in all directions : — 

" The object of the Society is to aid in the study and application of animal magnetism, 
and of all that is connected with it. 

" The Society does not wish to occupy itself in persuading the incredulous, in exposing 
theories, or in polemical discussions. It only offers a po'actical field where each one may 
verify and produce for himself the well-known phenomena of magnetism, and apply them 
gratuitously to the moral and physical relief of mankind. Assembling without any 
ambition, and under the form of simple conversation, it will not have any permanent 
ofl&cer, excepting a general secretary to keep the minutes of the association, to direct 
the correspondence, and to receive subscriptions. 

" The subscription will be two livres, Italian money, per month for each member, 
leaving him free to continue, to suspend, or to renew his subscription. 

" In each week two meetings will be held, the first exclusively for the study and 
application of magnetism, the second for the study and development of so-called 
Spiritualism by the help of all that occurs in magnetism. 

" Those who desire instruction in the practice of magnetism will have it under the 
direction of an experienced magnetizer. 

" When they have acquired the necessary power to exercise it freely, a certificate to 
that effect will be given by a committee to be appointed for the purpose. 

" All who wish for consultation, or to seek a cure by means of magnetism under the 



394 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

direction of a medical man chosen by themselves, will have gratuitous attendance. As 
soon as there shall be a sufiBcient number of members, the Society will be formed, and 
each will receive a letter of invitation for the first meeting. 

" All demands for admission and for further information must be directed per letter, 
post free, to ' La Societk Magnetica di Fiorenze.' May, 1863." 

At this time there resided in Florence, a gentleman whose name was 
very famiUar to the early investigators in Spiritualism, Mr. Seymour Kirkup. " 
Mr. Kirkup's communications and records of phenomena, especially such 
as were frequently printed in the London Spiritual Magazine, will ever be 
remembered with interest and admiration. 

Mr. Kirkup was a profound student of magnetism some years in advance of 
the Magnetic Society's formation at Florence, and as his experiences graphi- 
cally delineate the gradations, from human to Spiritual magnetism, 
and the unfoldment of that higher clairvoyance, which quits the realms of 
earth to ascend into those of the life beyond, we shall give the reader the 
benefit of one of Mr, Kirkup's instructive papers, written for the London 
Spiritual Magazine in 1863. The writer says : — 

" The following is my first perfect and convincing proof of the existence of spirits : — 
" My medium had been about two months in training as a somnamhule, when she was 
alarmed by a vision, although one very beautiful — the figure of a young child floating in 
the air. Her alarm was owing to its coming too close to her. Dr. Barzellini and Professor 
Verati, who were with me, and gave me instructions in magnetizing, drove it away 
by transverse passes and blowing. They said that such fantastic dreams would be 
injurious to her lucidity. This happened two or three times, but one day when they were 
not present, I asked her if it really could do harm, for I suspected that my professor's 
judgment might be less certain than her own, which had already begun to be very clair- 
voyant. She answered no, and on the contrary, it would be a great assistance, and as her 
fears had left her, I determined to encourage and assist the visits of this spirit, who 
declared himself to be her angelo custode — and so he proved. This was on the 27th of 
July, 1854. On the 5th of January the following year, Professor Puliti was present whilst 
she slept, making some experiments on her with galvanism ; I asked him if he had heard 
of the rappings in America, android him I was in doubt respecting some noises in my own 
house, and I related what had happened, as foUows : — One day, wliile I was writing, 
Regina and her httle sister came running in from the next room, where they were sitting 
at work : they were in the greatest alarm from a noise of blows against the door of an ante- 
room, which was closed, and they feared thieves were in the house. We opened the door, 
and examined every corner in the room, and the rest of the house, under all the furniture, 
inside closets, and even drawers, behind doors, &c. ; nothing was discovered, and I tried 
to persuade them they were deceived, and that the noise was in the street, or some other 
part of the house. I did not succeed, and they remained positive. However, Regina was 
twice alarmed at her mother's house shortly afterwards. I told the professor all this ; he 
said, ' Why do you not ask her and her spirit, now that she is in the magnetic sleep ? ' I 
told her to ask her guardian-spirit : she did so. ' Eccolo, behold him,' he said. She 
declared that she saw a man — certainly a Florentine — she thought she knew his face, but 
could not recal him to her memory. ' Ask him his name.' No answer. 'Ask your angel.' 
He answered, ' Giuseppe.' The truth struck my mind, but not hers. I told her to ask 
his surname, as Giuseppe is so common. She did, and kept looking up intently ; 
presently she burst into a flood of tears, throwing up her arms, as about the neck of the 
person she saw in the air. ' Oh, it is my father, my poor father ! ' She did not remember 
him at first. He had been murdered in the street six years before, when she was a child, 
and she thought him much changed and thinner. The crying brought on convulsions, 
and we wanted to send him away ; she begged us not, but as he promised to return and 
the convulsions increased, I dismissed him. When she recovered I awoke her ; she 
remembered nothing, and we did not tell her. The next day her spirit was accompanied 
by her father, whom she now knew, and saw without her former excessive grief. She 
asked him if it was he who had rapped at that door — 'Yes' — and why ? He wanted to 
speak to her. Why did he not ? Because she was so frightened. ' Will you knock again 
if I am not alarmed?' 'Yes.' ' And in the presence of Seymour ? ' 'Yes.' 'When?' 
' On Thursday.' ' And at what hour ?' 'At the Ave Maria.' When she awoke I did not 
tell her of this, for fear she should mention it to the Italians, and in order not to alarm 
her at the idea of a ghost. Up to this time I had no belief in the existence of spirits. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 395 

Her visious might be mere dreams or imposture for what I could tell ; my own experience 
had reached nothing beyond witnessing the phenomena common to magnetism, very 
wonderful certainly, but not owing to the agency of spirits. I was curious to see whether 
her father would keep his promise to me, but I did not much expect it. I went into the 
room appointed, having thoroughly searched the room adjoining, and bolted every door, 
and so secured them all that no person could possibly enter . I was fully aware that any 
imperfect precaution made the experiment entirely useless. I asked her to come and sit 
down at a distance from the door at the other end of the room, which is very large, above 
30 feet square ; I had a paper to make notes, and a candle, as it was getting dusk. I was 
placing it on the table near the door, expecting nothing at that moment, as I believed 
I was some minutes too soon, when I was startled by a tremendous blow on the 
door close to me ; it was as loud as a gun. Regina ran out of the room screaming. 
I followed her, and had the greatest difficulty in persuading her to return, which 
at last she did with me, but she cried with terror. I brought her to the dreaded 
door with safety, and we listened — she said, ' Sento gente' (I hear people.) I told 
her to ask who was there — if her angel ? — no answer — if her father ? ' Yes.' 'Why did 
you knock V 'I wished you to hear me and to tell you something.' ' Can you tell 
me now?' 'No.' I had told her what to ask, and she told me the answers. I heard the 

sound of his voice, but could not distinguish all the words, being partially deaf 

The spirit gave her his message ; it was to tell her brother to treat their poor old mother 
with more respect and kindness, and to leave off swearing. He was a mauvais sujet, aa 

bad as Regina was good. I afterwards had manifestations by hundreds My 

Journal has been continued to the present day, and it now fiUs six volumes. Many 
prodigies have taken place in my house ; the spirits of four living persons have appeared. 
Some spirits have been seen by my mediums awaJce as well as asleep, and some by myself. 
But the most remarkable of these manifestations are the numerous Apports, as the French 
call them, which have taken place here — presents of all sorts, which we value highly, 
brought to us and preserved by us with care, and others which we gave in return — rings, 
lockets, &c., which have been carried away out of inaccessible, locked-up, and sealed rooms 

(only a window open), and brought back by appointment by the spirits 

" 1,309, Ponte Vecchio, Florence." "Seymohe Kibkup." 

Mr. Kirkup's experiences were continued through many years and their 
publication was always a source of instruction as well as pleasure t"o his 
readers. 

It is to be regretted however that our space forbids further reprints of his 
valuable contributions. 

About ten years after the establishment of the Magnetic Society of 
Florence, another was formed in the same city, chiefly by the efforts of the 
Baron Guitera de Bozzi, an eminent and enthusiastic Spiritualist, who 
conducted the affairs of the society with zeal and energy until the period of 
his decease. This association bore the pretentious title of T/te Pneumato- 
logical Psychological Academy of Florence. 

After the departure of the moving spirit for the higher Hfe, the most 
strenuous efforts were made to maintain the ''Academy" on its former 
flourishing basis, but though Signer Fenzi and many earnest Spiritualists 
exerted themselves to this effect, "the Florentine Academy" became a 
thing of the past, although as z. piece de circonstance, its actual value to the 
movement was timely and effective. 

The following slight sketch of Spirit circles in Italy will be read with 
interest, first, because it may be taken as a representation of the mode in 
which the belief was propagated in private gatherings, and next because it 
displays in its best form, the cherished doctrine of the " Re-incarnationists," 
whose curious beliefs obtained much favour amongst those Continental 
" Spiritists," who could find little or no other literature in the French 
language, save the writings of Allan Kardec. 

The sketch was written by the Reverend Thomas Colley, whose lucid 
and valuable contributions to the English Spiritual journals cannot be too 
gratefully acknowledged. Mr. Colley's paper is headed 



396 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" SPIRITUALISM IN ITALY. 
" BY THE REV. THOMAS COLLEY, TEMPORARY CHAPLAIN AT NAPLES, 

"Temporarily acting as English chaplain here at Naples, I have the pleasure of 
studying Continental Spiritualism through the kindness of Signor Damiani, at whose 
house weekly, and sometimes oftener, we meet the Baroness Cerrapica, a very gifted 
trance medium, with whom the tSignor has, during the course of eight years, had upwards 
of seven hundred sittings. 

" Our circle is a small one, but almost always includes a dignitary of the Roman 
Church, who, with our host, takes an active part in social converse with the invisible 
powers that speak through the Baroness. These are numerous beyond calculation, and 
as varied as they are many ; and the linguistical endowments of the Signor, and the 
classical attainments of the Canon, are frequently in demand to put the circle intelligently 
en rapport with the mental identities that speak through the medium. Three of the 
domestics also of the Signer's household are mediums, and one, when present, sometimes 
clairvoyantly perceives, and in a whisper describes, the control that is about to manifest 
through the Baroness. 

" One peculiarity about this lady's mediumship is, that the voices, mind, inner thought, 
and outer manner of persons yet living sometimes come through her — the dramatic 
creation to the Ufe of persons she has never known. 

" Another characteristic is, that unhappy spirits are suEfered to take control, and state 
their miserable case ; and then the Canon, leading them in prayer, directs their minds 
upward, so that they appear manifestly to progress, and after two or three devotional 
seances are marvellously changed. 

" But controls of the highest order, sublime in look and manner, with sweetness and 
dignity combined, have the normal possession of our friend. Conversation with them is 
sweet indeed, and most instructive. The problems of this 'and the higher life are 
canvassed, and a record is kept of thesa voices from beyond (which I trust Signor Damiani 
will publish) ; the wisdom they convey is in diction perfect, and the language is such as 
Dante might have used or Cicero speak, if at any time re-incarnated. 

" For I must not omit to notice that the doctrine of re-incarnation is upheld and taught 
here, by spirits both in and out of the flesh. The utmost unanimity prevails regarding 
this. The controls through the Baroness are sometimes astonished to see in the person of 
some living member of the circle the re-incarnated spirit of one who was perhaps their 
earth companion ages back. I have been greeted by classical speaking controls, now as a 
Roman warrior (Aniceto), and now as a Greek philosopher ; and one of the controls was 
sorely puzzled a few weeks ago to see, in one of our company, the spirit of Aristides the 
Just still tangled up in parcels of fibrine, albumen, and phosphates, that have conspired 
to build up the body of our living friend ; and when the question was put as to the need 
of one so just to be re-incarnated, the answer was, that though well-nigh morally perfect, 
yet intellectually it was to his benefit that he should thus return to earth once more, to see, 
investigate, apprehend, sift, and mentally develope those powers that should balance, with 
masculine reason, the more feminine qualities of his former virtues. But this question 
grows under my hand, and I must stop ; for though it is a most interesting speculation 
that the re -incarnation of Elijah in St. John the Baptist should make us deal with 
patiently and modestly, yet as it is only a speculation (inasmuch as it lacks the physical 
demonstration which other phases of Spiritualism do not lack), I forbear. 

" Since writing the above, and after our usual seance with the Baroness to-night, a 
remarkable matter transpired. Some short time ago, a rustic, patois-speaking spirit 
manifested through her, and gave the name of Zappacosta, saying that he had been a 
peasant living on the estate of a gentleman present at our circle, Baron de Riseis. The 
name Zappacosta is as strange and unusual in Italian as Hedgedigger would be in English 
(which, by the way, is its literal translation and meaning) and the Baron knew none of 
his dependents of such a name. But the circle was further astonished when the control 
declared that he had just been murdered by his own brother, at a place named on the 
Baron's estate near Chiete, and begged that our friend would write to ascertain the truth 
of his statement. Baron de Riseis did so, and this evening, just as our sitting was over, 
he came in vsdth the answer received, giving an account of the sad occurrence, which was 
found to agree most exactly with what the control had affirmed, all being literally correct. 
Then, naturally full of the subject, as we were talking about it during supper, the 
medium was again suddenly controlled by the same power, and a request was preferred 
that intercession might be made to the authorities on behalf of his murderer, and our 
prayers also were asked on behalf of the murdered man. Saints Camillus and Urban 
were named as propitious and helpful to the control (suggestive to the thoughtful of how 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 397 

the creedal mind — in this case Roman Catholic — survives the dissolution of the mind's 
physical organism), and the Baron recognised these as the patron saints of the place where 
the man was killed. His estate is across country, about one hundred and twenty miles 
from here, and the circumstance could not, unconsciously or otherwise, in any way have 
been known to our friend the medium, the Baroness Cerrapica. 

"Thomas Colley. 
"Casa Grifeo, Eione Amedeo, Naples, July 19th, 1877." 

One of the most accomplished as well as earnest Spiritualists of the 
present day in Italy is Signor S, Fenzi, a gentleman whose scholarly com- 
munications and earnestness in the cause of human progress, have 
rendered his name as familiar and as much honoured by English and 
American Spiritualists as by those of Italian nationality. Besides this 
gentleman's reports, the author has received from, a large number of private 
sources, records of interesting, but by no means rare phenomena occurring 
in various families of distinction in Italy. The strict charge accompanying 
these letters to withhold the real names, and publish initials only, renders 
them wholly unsuiled to a work of the nature guaranteed to the world by 
the author. 

A few noble gentlemen like Count Caprera, of Naples ; Signori Damiani 
and Sebastiano Fenzi; Count Ricardo of Rome, Viscount Solanot, and 
others of similar charcter and standing, hesitate not to avow the belief 
which they know to be divine truth. 

Whatever motives may prevail to the contrary, those who recognize 
Spirituahsm as the pearl of price for which they can afford to sacrifice 
all the world besides are the only witnesses whose testimony we consider 
worth acceptance. 

One of the last accounts of an authentic character that we can offer to 
our readers, is contained in a letter from Count Santini, who relates many 
extraordinary things of a youth in whom he takes a great interest, named 
" Gino Fanciullacci," whom the Count designates as an extraordinary writing 
Medium. Two or three less enthusiastic but equally reliable correspon- 
dents of the Revue Spirite and London Mediu?n, have also written of this 
young " psychic," and as their accounts are more in accordance with the 
plain statements essential to deliberate investigation we give them the 
preference in quotation. 

" Senex," the London correspondent, writes thus : — 

" I lately told you of a young Italian, a Florentine, named Gino Fanciullacci, who had 
written a long Dantesque poem in the sight of others, in broad daylight, ' without blot- 
ting out a line,' like Shakespeare with his plays, as Ben Jonson tells us. I have just got 
the book. In the commencement he makes the following ' Declaration to the Reader : — 
I cannot claim the paternity of this poem, although it was written by me. It was 
dictated to me by a spirit. — Gino Fanciullacci.' 

" This book contaias more than four hundred pages. It is written, not in blank verse, 
like Milton's great works, but in ' terza rima ' or triplet rhyme throughout, like the works 
of Dante. I have had a letter from this wonderful young medium, who, in answer to my 
playfully telling him that he should not have told the world about the source of hia 
poem, for that the world only likes inspiration at a distance, returns me the following 
well-deserved and pertinent rebuke : — 

'' ' I beg you not to write of my ingenuousness in having announced the work as the 
product of a spirit, it was my duty to speak the truth, the judgment of others being of 
little importance to me whether favourable or unfavourable ; and besides imagine the 
ridicule that it might have brought upon me.' 

" He tells me that he has ' written other vi'orks waiting to be published, obtained by the 
means of other medianity.' 

"In the Revue Spirite for June, 1881, there was a critique on this poem by Signor 
Tremeschini, an Italian engineer and astronomer at the Pantheon in Paris. He says :-^ 



398 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" ' One half of this poem is golden, struck with the seal of Dante ; a quarter is silver ; 
an eighth is aluminium ; the other eighth is of clay. As a whole it is an immortal work. 
I defy contradiction.' " 

The Revue SpiriU gives the following in connection with this same 
Medium : — 

" A young Florentine, Gino Fanciullacci, born of poor parents, and with no literary 
education, has lately written and published a volume in Dantesque metre, called 'A 
Pilgrimage in the Heavens.' He is employed in the shop of a French antiquary, who has 
become a Spiritualist through witnessing Fanciullacci writing day after day from twelve 
o'clock till half past one, this ' wonderful production,' as it is said to be, ' without ever 
altering a word ; " because, as he declares, ' he simply writes down what he distinctly 
hears dictated to him.' According to literary men, this volume is excellent as regards 
capacity and power, and its prosody is irreproachable. It is well to remark that this 
young man is said to understand his own language well. Spirits prefer good tools. 

" Strange to relate, the young sister of Gino Fanciullacci has lately proved herself, in 
another way, a medium of as wonderful capacity as her brother. This young girl, who 
has never played a bar of music in her life, was told by the spirits to seat herself at the 
piano ; and she then played and continues to play the most elaborate pieces of Beethoven, 
Mendelssohn, &c., with the mastery of a Thalberg or a Prudent." 

Independent of the various groups of persons who — under the afflatus of 
the modern Spiritual movement — combine to form societies, which in truth 
represent various phases of thought on Spiritual subjects, rather than the 
direct teachings of the Spirits in the new dispensation, there are many 
persons who firmly believe that David Lazaretti, the enthusiast who 
appeared about ten years ago in Italy, and claimed to be a re-incarnation 
of Jesus Christ, was indeed a divinely inspired personage, commissioned to 
re-establish primitive Christianity all over the face of the earth. 

The untimely death of this self-styled Messiah in 1879 — he being shot 
in a colUsion with the Pontifical authorities— served to cool the faith of 
his adherents, especially as no one of sufficient power and influence to 
carry forward his mission, has arisen to succeed him. There are no doubt 
many features of psychological interest to be derived from a study of 
Lazaretti and his pretensions. Our space however forbids any further 
notice of the singular movement promulgated under Lazaretti's leadership. 

For the last twenty years, the labours of Signor Niceforo Filalete, the 
indefatigable editor of the Annali dello Spiritismo of Turin, have been 
continued. The devotees of phenomenal SpirituaHsm may have been 
disappointed to find in his admirable pages but little to gratify their taste 
for the wonderful, but the scholars into whose hands his work has passed, 
have accepted with delight, the learned and philosophical articles with 
which those pages have been crowded, and which have contributed largely 
to liberahzing human thought and promote the noblest views of religion, 
science, and morality. Amongst the many profound and instructive contri- 
butions to the Annali, none has attracted more respectful attention than 
the series of articles by Viscount Solanot, on " Catholicism before Christ." 

The extracts with which these writings abound, are taken from the 
Hindoo scriptures, together with an immense mass of Egyptian, Chaldaic, 
and other ancient traditional lore. The whole series, though by no means 
a novelty to the student of ancient rehgious history, is still a marvel of 
learning and fearlessness, proceeding as it does, from the priest-ridden 
centre of Catholicism, Italy. 

Had the writer of the above-named articles entitled them Christianity 
" before Christ," they would have had a still deeper significance for those 
who in our time, dare to do their own religious thinking, and base their 
beliefs upon the authority of truth. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 399 

Much of the reading matter of the Annali is borrowed from the French, 
German, Spanish, American, and English Spiritual literature. It is none 
the less valuable however on that account, and independent of the scholarly 
articles above referred to, besides others of kindred character contributed 
by excellent writers, a complete file of the Anna/i, during its twenty years 
of vigorous life, would form a compendious history of the Spiritual movement. 

The lack of any considerable amount of phenomenal record is due to 
other causes than the editor's unwilhngness to print such details. 

It must be remembered that there are few if any professional Mediums 
in Italy, and the manifestations which transpire at private circles, or such 
as arise spontaneously in the seclusion of the home, are deemed either too 
sacred or too personal to be paraded before the public. Spiritualism in 
Italy also, has made a deeper mark upon the higher classes of society than 
amongst the rank and file ; hence there are a sufficient number of reasons for 
the exclusion of such records from the columns which are supposed to be 
open to vulgar eyes, as well as to those of society's " upper crust." 

Amongst the notices of phenomenal Spiritualism which have been 
mentioned in the An?iali, the following excerpts may be considered as of a 
representative character. They are taken from a series of articles written 
by an esteemed correspondent of the Magazine, Signor Seffoni, and are 
entitled, Vendetta D" Outre Toniba, " Vengeance beyond the Tomb." 

Signor Seffoni says : — 

" In February, 1827, Sr. A. P., whom I did not know, came to me recommended 
by a friend, to ask my counsel and advice concerning a very serious affair in his family. 
He had two children — a daughter, Carlotta, between sixteen and seventeen years of age, 
and a son between thirteen and fourteen. His wife being dead, he let a part of his 
house to an elderly woman, a Marzia N. , who was regarded as a neighbour. She was 
not an educated person, nor yet wholly ignorant, but frank and resolute, and had a certain 
faith in fortune-telling by playing-cards in respect of matrimony and the like. Though 
only hospitably received, she sought at once to have a legitimate title as godmother of the 
family, and there arose an unfriendly feeling between herself and Mdlle. Carlotta. It was 
finally necessary to tixrn Madame Marzia from the house. Not long after she sickened 
and died. Soon after, Carlotta, who had always possessed good health, became very 
nervous, and ere long had convulsive symptoms. There came great difficulty of 
breathing, and a feehng as if there was a quantity of hair in her throat. [The 
writer, here digressing, with an apology, refers to a similar case reported in the 
Annali of 1878, page 241, which had been confirmed to him by the attending 
physician. The narration appeared under this heading : Obsession or Hysterics ?] " Car- 
lotta suffered unremittingly with this terrible sensation of hairs in the throat. Without 
mentioning to any one anything of this matter, I requested the father to come to my 
house on a certain evening, when I would have a sonnambule present whom I had known 
to have good and clear communications with the spirits of the departed. The somnam- 
bulist came with her magnetizer, and was put into a magnetic sleep. The hair, carefully 
wrapped up in paper, was placed in her hand, and she was asked to state what she held. 
' Heavens ! . . hair ! . . but I cannot comprehend it.' ' Open the paper,' I said, 
' and examine the contents attentively, and tell me of the person.' ' But ... I do 
not understand. Not of a sick person, not of a man. . , . Oh, my God ! what is it ? 
Ah ! . . . this hair is not like other ; it comes from the mouth.' ' But of whom is the 
hair ? ' I asked. ' It is of one dead, frankly. See.' She then went on and described the 
figure of Madame Marzia, and related the enmity that existed between her and Carlotta. 
The father recognized it all as correct. It seemed clearly a case of obsession. A purely 
moral course of treatment was recommended, and with care, and with good spiritual 
influences, a good result was anticipated." 

In a still later issue of the Annali, Signor Seffoni gives the following 
additional particulars of the case above mentioned. He says :— 

" Our readers will call to mind the young girl Carlotta, the victim of a malign influence, 
thrown over her by a wicked woman, lately deceased, who had been ejected from her 
(Carlotta's) father's house. At a stance at Sr. Scofini's, subsequent to the one reported, 



400 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

the young girl was invited to attend with her father, as there were to be present several 
mediums of no little experience and power. Among the latter was Madame Maddalena 
Cartoni, who had performed some wonderful cures ; and a young man named Luciano, 
who was greatly respected for gentleness and beauty of character. During the evening 
Madame Maddalena essayed to bring under her influence Mademoiselle Carlotta, but pro- 
duced only sighs or groans. Luciano evoked the perturbing spirit, but it manifested, when 
it came, only an evil disposition toward all present. A captain in the Roman army, a 
member of the Turin Society of Spiritualists, a man who had a special gift in ameliorating 
refractory spirits, took the matter in hand, and by showing the bad aspect of malevolence, 
by persuasive logic, by virtue of what is right, the efficacy of his reasoning (received at 
first spitefully), took effect little by little, till a yielding was manifest ; still it seemed 
rather a confusion than a conviction. In the meantime, a seeing medium, a member of 
the household of the proprietor, saw clearly the spirit of the malicious Marzia, and 
described her so exactly, every physical outline, that Carlotta's father confirmed the 
identity. With this the seance closed. At a subsequent seance, after the usual invoca- 
tion, Marzia came, and through Luciano made a voluntary confession. To the seeing 
medium she also presented a very different aspect from that borne at the first interview. 
Almost covered by a veil, she seemed dejected, mortified, and nearly weeping. She asked 
pardon of the family which she had so greatly afflicted through the child, and with 
remorse of conscience begged the prayers of the sitters to obtain from Omnipotence the 
necessary force to keep her resolution to do no more evil." 

Spiritualism in Italy at the present date presents less distinctive marks 
of general interest than evidences of an intention on the part of "the 
powers that be," in the Spirit world, to revive attention to the pheno- 
mena. Accounts are often given of young peasant girls and people of the 
lower classes, manifesting those gifts of the Spirit that have been hereto- 
fore cultivated chiefly by more refined and educated personages. 

The Uterature of the subject is less earnestly studied and phenomenal 
powers are more regarded. In this, as in other countries, Spiritualism as a 
movement is unquestionably in a transitional stage, and whatever the next 
move on the great chessboard of divinely guided destiny may be, none can 
doubt, who attentively consider the signs of the times, that Spiritualism has 
effected for the consciences of the Italian people, what the illustrious 
Garibaldi has achieved for their political status. 

And still the noble work of freedom has but as yet begun. In the harvest 
day, when the fruits of true religious and political liberty shall be garnered 
up for the behoof of posterity, the Spirits of such, heroes as Garibaldi, the 
Italian, and Abraham Lincoln, the American, will be recognized as having 
aided to finish the work of emancipation for the souls of men, which they 
began on earth for their material welfare. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN SPAIN, 



Whilst— what our American cousins would denominate as — the peculiar 
institutions of Spain, render it impossible to record public meetings or 
public gatherings for the promotion of Spiritual progress in Spain — the 
historian of this volume has been favoured with minutes of a vast number 
of private circles, and evidences of a wide-spread interest on the subject of 
Spiritualism existing in nearly all the large centres of Spanish civilization. 
Without referring to the superstitious beliefs still prevailing amongst the 




Isaac B . Rich 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 401 

peasantry and lower classes, in that relic of barbarism styled " witchcraft," 
with all its attendant circumstances of spells, enchantments, signs, tokens, 
&c., &c., it is enough to say, the people of Spain generally, cherish a 
broader faith in Spiritual verities than is taught in the "communion of 
saints," or other church dogmas. It is a remarkable fact also, that in a 
literary point of view few if any lands can excel Spain in the high tone and 
abundance of its SpirituaHstic writings. 

For causes that will become sufficiently apparent even in this brief notice, 
Spanish Spiritual literature is largely tinctured with the belligerent spirit 
called forth by clerical aggressions, but independent of this, few countries 
can boast of a finer corps of Spiritual journalists than Spain, 

An esteemed writer in the Religio Philosophical Journal says on this 
subject : — 

"The language that furnishes the largest number of periodicals devoted to the 
dissemination of the doctrine and philosophy of modern Spiritualism, is the Spanish. 
This statement will be somewhat surprising to many of our readers, for we have been 
accustomed to look upon the Spaniards as non-progressive and conservative in the 
extreme. Spain, untU within a few years, has always been intolerant of any religions 
except the Eoman Catholic, and was the latest of European nations to yield to the spirit 
of religious progress. Protestantism has with the greatest difficulty obtained a foothold 
in that country within the last few years, but it has been attended with annoying restric- 
tions and persecutions, while its progress has been exceedingly slow and discouraging. 

" The Hispano-American States have been but little behind the mother country in 
their lack of rehgious toleration. They have been liberal in everything else more than in 
matters of conscience, the Romish yoke having been too firmly pressed about their necks 
to yield to innovations of any sort. But within the last decade a great change has taken 
place, and in nothing is toleration more manifest than in the progress that Spiritualism 
has made among them. The religion of Spiritualism appeals more directly to the Spanish 
heart than does Protestantism, and hence its greater success. In the Spanish dominions 
and the Hispano-American Republics, there are no fewer than seventeen different spiritual 
publications, issued at stated intervals, in the Spanish language. There are five at least 
in the Republic of Mexico ; several in Spain ; one in Cuba ; one in each of the Republics 
of Peru, Chili, and Uruguay; two in the Argentine Republic, and others in various 
Spanish speaking countries." 

The above statement speaks within limit. On the author's desk at the 
present moment, lay specimens of twenty-five journals published in the 
Spanish language, and devoted to the exposition of Spiritualism. There 
may have been yet more, for several Spiritual periodicals have been imperi- 
ously suspended in Spanish-America by ecclesiastical authority, and at 
present copies of these ephemera are difficult to procure. We shall how- 
ever have occasion to allude to them as we proceed. 

Spiritualism in Spain commenced, as in many other lands, with a series 
of disturbances, which took place in a family residing in the outskirts of 
Cadiz. Stone throwing, bell ringing, and other preternatural annoyances 
were the first means of awakening attention to the subject, and as they 
occurred at the house of a Spanish gentleman who had just returned from 
the United States, full of the marvels of " the Rochester knockings," circles 
were at once formed, intelligent responses by rappings obtained, and a foot- 
hold gained, upon which the edifice of Spiritual progress was upreared. 
So rapidly did the interest thus awakened spread, that the first promulgators 
were soon lost sight of, and as early as 1854, a society was formed at Cadiz, 
which was organized for the sole purpose of publishing the communications 
received from " the Spirits," during two preceding years. A copy of the 
tract thus issued is now before us, but its manner and matter are so purely 
rudimental, that the translation would fail to interest any well-informed 
reader. • 
26 



402 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

From 1854 to 1860, Spiritualism spread through the principal towns and 
villages of Spain in the usual fashion. Circles were held in private 
families, and an endless number of " societies " were formed and dissolved, 
according to the exigencies of the time. 

One of the first public events of note in connection with Spanish Spirit- 
ualism, was of so remarkable a character, that it deserves special mention. 
This was no other than an Auto-da-fe, perpetrated under the auspices of 
that Church, so well qualified by centuries of experience to preside at such 
scenes. The only difference between the occasion under consideration and 
the fiery executions of olden times being, that the victims were formerly 
human beings, whereas, in the present instance, they were all the books, 
pamphlets, and works of a Spiritualistic character that could be procured at 
that period of the movement. 

Amongst the pile thus offered up on the altar of religious enlightenment, 
were the writings of Kardec, Dufau, Grand, and Guldenstubbe ; some copies 
of English and American Spiritual papers, and a large collection of tracts 
issued by the Spiritualists of Spain. This memorable scene occurred on 
the morning of the 9th of October, 1861, at the Esplanade, Barcelona. 

The executioners were a couple of priests, with torches, crosses, and 
other "sacred" objects belonging to their occupation, a public scribe and 
clerk, and several of the city functionaries. The act was performed at the 
especial command of the Bishop, and an immense gathering of the popu- 
lace stood around the blazing pile. 

If the enactment of such a scene late in the nineteenth century may be 
regarded as one sign of the times in a religious point of view, it must not 
be forgotten that another sign was, the murmur of deep indignation that 
first disturbed the ominous silence of the assembled crowd, and finally 
broke into a roar of execrations and cries of " Away with the inquisitors," 
as the priests somewhat hastily gathered up their ecclesiastical paraphernalia, 
and disappeared from the scene more rapidly than they came. Whilst the 
pile was yet blazing, the mob began to scatter the burning wreck, and not 
a few of the bystanders gathered up shrivelled fragments to carry away with 
them in memory of the nineteenth century Auto-da-fe. 

Judging by the results that followed, the chief actors in this remarkable 
scene might have been Mediums, and influenced directly by those powers 
who have the Spiritual movement in charge, so rapid and efficacious did it 
become as an instrument of propagandism. " What is Spiritualism ? " 
" What have the Spiritualists done ? " and " Where and how can we investi- 
gate the subject?" were the questions with which all Spain was ringing 
immediately after the act above described, 

Amongst the well-known residents df Barcelona, was a Senor Navarez, 
whose daughter Rosa had for many years been the subject of frightful 
spasmodic attacks, called by the Catholic clergy " the obsession of demons" 
— by the medical faculty, an aggravated condition of epilepsy. Within two 
years after the Auto-da-fe, Madlle. R.osa was pronounced entirely cured, by 
the magnetic passes of a gentleman who was the Medium of a private circle 
held in the city. Shortly after this, Barcelona could boast of its well- 
approved Spiritual organs, numerous societies for investigation, and several 
Mediums, who from their exclusive position in private life, would object to 
their names being mentioned. 

Up to the present date, two of the most progressive papers in the Spanish 
language are pubUshed in Barcelona. These are La Lux del Porvenir and 
Revista de Estudios Psicologicos. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 403 

The former paper — La Lux — is edited by Donna Amalia y Soler, an able 
and brilliant writer, who in addition to her arduous editorial labours, and 
the delivery of many fine orations on the subject of Spiritualism, has contri- 
buted with her tireless pen, elegant diction, and broad humanitary articles, 
to embellish as well as establish more than a score of the journals and 
magazines pubUshed in the Spanish language. Indeed, it is enough to 
mention Madame Soler's honoured name to call forth a note of admiration 
from every Spanish Spiritualist. El Eco de la Verdad is another well- 
written paper published at Barcelona. It will readily be perceived there- 
fore that the Bishop's famous Auto-da-fe was so effective in throwing light 
upon the subject of Spiritualism, that it might be desirable to have a 
repetition of the scene in all the great centres of civilization. 

About 1868, there appeared at Madrid, an excellent journal entided El 
Criteria (The Critic). At the present date, the editors dare to add a title 
deemed too dangerous to assume in its earlier issues, namely, El Criteria 
Espiriiista. The journal was published by Senor Alcantara, and was 
warmly supported by the Viscount de Torres Solanot, and numbers of 
other leaders of science and literature in Spain. 

By this pubUcation the opponents of Spiritualism were amazed to learn of 
the immense progress the cause was making, and the number of distin- 
guished persons who assembled nightly in circles to promote investigation. 
As an evidence of the enthusiastic spirit which pervaded the various 
" groups," into which the Spanish Spiritualists began to resolve themselves, 
we may call attention to the following circular issued by the Viscount 
Solanot in 1875. It is to the following effect, and was distributed broad- 
cast through Europe in different languages : — 

" The great International Exhibition of Philadelphia, 1876, calls together all the efforts 
made towards improving the physical, intellectual, and moral condition of man. Among 
these efforts there is none at the present day so powerful and efficient as that which 
SpirituaUsm offers, and for this reason we deem that we answer the call of duty in having 
Spirituahsm there exhibited in all its Providential phases, for the enlightenment of the 
human race. And in order to ensure Spiritualism the due rant to which it aspires from 
the influence which it exercises in the world, the efforts and co-operation of all the 
Spiritualists of this planet are necessary. 

" Stimulated by this idea, we take the liberty of calling your attention to this subject, 
sure that if we can realise our project, according to our conception, it will assist great and 
transcendent triumphs for the truth which we defend 

" The moment has arrived for forming ourselves into one group, so as to constitute 
with the unity of doctrine the unity of instruction 

" We should present to this generation, in order to improve and ameliorate life, our 
communications with the invisible world, full of hope for the future, full of bright 
promises for work, for virtue and for knowledge. We will exhibit our books, pamphlets, 
and journals ; urge the co-operation of all the great mediums and orators, and spread the 
light as it ought to be spread, lifting it aloft that all may see it 

" For the accomplishment of our object we have already addressed ourselves to the 
Spiritualists of Philadelphia, from whom all initiatory action should arise ; and we purpose 
calhng upon all Spiritualist societies to second our proposal to march united to the great 
meeting to which we are summoned by the superior intelligences which from other spheres 
watch over the moral and intellectual progress of the planet we inhabit. 

" The committee of the society appointed to promote the Spanish co-operation to the 
Spiritualist exhibition earnestly beseech the brothers of every country to receive this 
idea with enthusiasm, so that in our united strength we may present in Philadelphia the 
progress accomplished by the sublime and consoling doctrine which at the present day 
offers the most powerful impulse in the philosophical, intellectual, and moral improvement 
of humanity. 

"Towards God, by Charity and by Science. Madrid, 31st March, 1875. — Viscount 
Torres- Solanot, Manuel Corchado, Dr. Huelbes Temprado, Guillermo Martorell, Daniel 
Suarez, Francisco Migueles, Pablo Gonzalvo, Sanchez Escribano, Eugenio Gouillaut, Jose 
Agramonte. 



404 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The generous and warm-hearted authors of this circular, met with no 
response worthy of their fraternal intentions. It might have been difficult 
to define exactly what the Spanish brethren proposed to do, or wished 
others to unite with them in doing ; certain it is, that no tangible results 
could be expected to follow from a very transcendental address to the 
scattered ranks of a movement, whose motto might well be Liberty, 
Inequality, and Disintegration ! " Our Spanish friends mean well, but is it 
possible there can be unity enough amongst them to send a delegation to 
America?" asked one of the shrewdest of Yankee Spiritualists on perusing 
this grandiloquent circular. 

Nothing daunted by the impossibility of getting an International repre- 
sentation worthy of the cause at Philadelphia, the noble and energetic 
Viscount Solanot again agitated the subject previous to the Paris Exposi- 
tion of 1878. 

In the articles written for El Criterio on this proposition, the Viscount 
names amongst those societies of Spiritualists prepared to promote an 
International representation, " La Federation Espirita," of Belgium ; " The 
British National Association of Spiritualists," England ; " La Sociedad 
Central Espirita," of the Republic of Mexico ; and " El Central General 
del Espiritismo," in Spain. Notice is also taken, and with a hope of its 
ultimate success, of the attempt to form a national association and unite all 
the discordant elements under the one broad banner of simple Spiritualism. 

OF SPANISH MEDIUMS. 

In Spain, as in Italy, a considerable amount of attention has been 
directed towards the unfoldment of Mediumistic power by means of 
Magnetism. Magnetic societies abounded in Spain up to within the last 
few years, when many elements of internal discord prevailed in the ranks, 
and succeeding in dissolving the bonds which had united flourishing associa- 
tions. Amongst the amateur mesmerists of Spain may be mentioned Don 
Juan Escudero, of Madrid, a gentleman, who having witnessed some experi- 
ments in " animal magnetism " in CaHfornia, resolved to try its effects in his 
own family. 

On returning to Spain in 1870 from the United States, he found two 
little twin daughters of eight years old, suffering from what was pronounced 
to be diphtheria of a malignant and incurable type. Before the afflicted 
father allowed himself time to exchange greetings with the rest of the family, 
he commenced making magnetic passes over the Httle sufferers. The effect 
was almost electrical. Donna Isabella, their mother, at first deemed the 
children's hapless state had driven their father insane, but when she saw 
them sink into a peaceful slumber, fever subsiding, and ultimately every 
symptom of disease disappear, she became a convert to the efficacy of her 
husband's apostolic gift. 

After the children's recovery, which was rapid and uninterrupted, the 
delighted parents agreed to hold circles on the approved American fashion. 
It was soon found that the two Httle girls were physical Mediums, and 
their little brother, a child of only five years old, was developed as a clair- 
voyant and seer of extraordinary lucidity. 

Don Juan Escudero, writing to the author of the seances that transpired 
in his house, says : — 

" Heaven has descended upon us. We have no more dead. All whom we have ever 
known and loved fill our house with tokens of their angelic presence. Their voices are 
heard rebuking our children when they are fractious ; joining in our evening hymns ; 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 405 

bringing us fruit, flowers, and presents on our file days and holidays, and by thousands 
of signals convincing us how near they are to us, and how constantly they watch, guard, 
and bless us. What is to others the faith of angel ministry is to us assured knowledge 
of angel presence. 

This gentleman adds : — 

" My dearest wife, who accuses herself of having been of a nervous, irritable temper, is 
now the most gentle and amiable of women. She says she must live for heaven upon 
earth, and so she will commence building up her heaven now. My children are veritable 
little saints under the counsels of their beloved guides, — and for myself, — all I can say is, 
if I am not a better man under the discipline of this angelic teaching, — I ought to be." 

From a number of private circles held in different Spanish towns, the 
author has received immense files of communications, some given under 
trance conditions, some rapped out, or written through the planchette. All 
partake of high and elevated sentiments, although they are in general of too 
personal a character to interest others than the recipients. 

Don Escudero mentions a man who supplied his family with vegetables, 
whose wife complained, that directly after the birth of her baby, she and 
the neighbours were continually disturbed with loud and incessant rappings, 

Having heard marvellous reports of Senor Escudero's gift of heaUng, and 
finding the priest of the vicinity unable to quell the disturbances by virtue 
of holy water, the poor man, Miguel, solicited the good Senor's advice and 
assistance. 

After calling on his gardener, and ascertaining for himself the preter- 
natural character of the knockings, Don Escudero and a few friends held 
a strictly private circle in Miguel's dwelling. On attempting to communi- 
cate with the knockings by the alphabet, the first sentence spelled out was 
a charge to bring " the sister babe " in her cradle, and place it upon the 
table. This was done, when the table rocked to and fro like a ship at sea, 
and the knockings spelled out, that the infant of six weeks old was the 
Medium ; that the communicating Spirit was a sailor boy, the child of 
Miguel by a first wife ; that he had been drowned at sea, and his principal 
object was, to inform his poor father, who had once been well off in the 
world, that his brother, a rich planter of Buenos Ayres, had died without a 
will, and his father must immediately put in his claim for the property, as 
the Church already held possession of it. Pending the legal steps which 
the astonished gardener proceeded to take in this matter, it may be stated 
that all the information thus conveyed was strictly true. 

It seems however, that the family were so delighted at the working of the 
Spiritual telegraph through the new born babe, that they insisted upon 
continuing the circles night after night, even after they had been strictly 
enjoined by the Spirits to desist. 

The result was, as the Spirits had warned them it would be, that the life 
principle of the little one became exhausted, and drawn off by the exercises 
of the eager investigators. The circles which would have been healthful 
and normal to an adult, well-developed Medium, nearly proved fatal to the 
growing infant. As the Spirits prophesied, the little Medium became a 
mere handful of skin and bones, and was obviously fast fading away. 
Don Escudero then took the case in hand ; commenced magnetizing the 
babe, and enforcing the commands of the sailor boy, to hold no more 
circles with " the sister babe." Senor Escudero concludes this little narra- 
tive by saying, " Marietta," the infant of this adventure, " is now a bonny 
girl of ten years old, and is playing with my little ones in the garden below 



4o6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

my window. Her father has recovered a small part of his brother's 
property in Buenos Ayres, and very much against my advice, is contesting 
with the Church for the rest. For my part I would sooner trust to the 
truth and justice of our rapping Spirits, than to all the reverend fathers in 
Spain." 

Amongst the numerous circles or " groups " formed in the different parts 
of Spain for the study of Spiritualism and its phenomena, is one of long 
standing at Tarragona called " The Christian Circle." Quite recently the 
President of this circle sent the following communication to the Revue 
Spirite of Paris : — 

" The convict prison here in Tarragona has 800 inmates sentenced to forced labour 
By some means, Spiritualist books have been introduced among the prisoners. The 
circulation of these books among them has been the means of bringing seventy or eighty 
of them to be believers in our doctrine. These converts have ceased to regard their 
miserable position from their old point of view ; they no longer entertain schemes of 
revolt against the authorities. They endure their lot with resignation under the influence 
of the teaching that this world is but a preliminary stage to another, where, if repentant 
of the ill they have done, and seeking the good of others, they will be better off than here. 

" Not long since one of these men died ; at his death he declined the established offices 
of the prison priest, on the ground that he was a SpirituaHst and did not need them. The 
priest then discovered that Spiritualism was a subject of discussion with many of the 
prisoners. He made a representation of the matter to his bishop, who made formal 
complaint of it to the commandant of the prison, and the commandant made an investi- 
gation. In the end a particular prisoner was selected for punishment in the form of an 
additional weight of fetters. This coming to the knowledge of the Spiritualists of 
Tarragona, Barcelona, and Lerida, they had a meeting upon the subject and delegated one 
of their number, a man of position, to the commandant. The representations which 
he made, led the commandment to cancel his order as to the additional fetters. The 
bishop's censure against Spiritualist books placed them under prohibition, which was 
maintained. It is known, however, that although never found by gaolers, the books are 
still there. 

" A communication has been written through the hand of a medium of the Circle of 
Christian Spiritualists of Tarragona by the Spirit of the prisoner whose death is mentioned 
above ; it is as follows : — 

" ' My Brethren, — Whatever your burdens may be they are light compared to those 
who suffer under the heavy penalties of the law : wearing fetters, enduring indescribable 
hardships and the brutalities of coarse and cruel gaolers ; heavy indeed are the burdens 
of those who have so violated Society's laws as to find themselves inmates of the galleys ! 
But is Society always equitable ? Does it not sometimes provoke men into criminahty ? 
Does it not sometimes create the evils which it punishes men for doing ? And how many 
are there who, if equity ruled, would have similar sentences passed upon them ? They 
seem to escape being called on to pay their moral debts, but the time vrill come when 
they will have to do so.' 

" Did I know the meaning of the word Love ? Towards my earthly end I learned 
through the works of Spiritualism to have charity for my enemies — aye, even to love 
them. Death released me after the new Hght had penetrated the darkness of the past. 
By this light I was warned, prepared, and now realise the truths of all it taught me. 
Brethren of the terrible fetters, have charity for your gaolers. When they would goad 
you to rebelUon conquer them by charity if you can — if not, conquer yourselves. So will 
you help to plant goodness in humanity and raise for yourselves steps unto heaven. I 
pray you cherish ever the spirit of Love. Love is God. — Adieu !" 

Such are some of the teachings that the Church dominant in Spain 
continues year by year to denounce with ever increasing bitterness. Com- 
plaints are often made that " Spiritualism is aggressive towards the Church." 
Had the church performed its duty towards Spiritualism, from its first 
appearance as a supra -mundane fact, Spiritualism would now be the 
CORNER STONE OF FACT, on which the Church would rest secure from all 
attacks. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 407 

At any rate, as the assumed pattern of all mental, moral, and religious 
graces, ev^en Spiritualists have the right to look to the Church as its exemplar. 
Amongst the multitudinous examples which Catholicism in Spain sets to 
those whom it considers to be stray sheep from its own heavenly fold, the 
following article from one of the late numbers of the Turin journal, the 
Annali dello Spiritismo, will afford a startling specimen. The editor of the 
Religio Philosophical Journal gives the translation in an issue of 1882, as 
follows ; — 

'* In the Annali dello Spiritismo we find nothing of interest pertaining especially to 
Italy, but we make an extract relating to matters in Spain, where spiritual and liberal 
papers are objects of great displeasure to the Bishops, and which have had the following 
anathema thundered against their devoted heads : — 

" ' The Bishop of Santander has demonstrated that in Spain one may go a little too far 
in the expression of hberal sentiments, and has launched forth an excommunication 
against all the liberal journals of his diocese, the literal text of which is this : " May God 
omnipotent and all the saints curse them with eternal maledictions, and may they be 
hurled to the devil and his angels ; may they be damned with Judas the traitor and with 
Julian the apostate ; may the Lord judge them as Dathan and Abiram were judged, and 
may they be swallowed up alive in the earth ; may the few days of their existence be 
miserable ; may they succumb to the horrors of famine, thirst, nakedness, and all sorts 
of evils ; may they suffer want, degrading infirmities, and every species of torment ; may 
everything they possess be accursed ; may they enjoy no blessing nor be benefited by any 
prayer, and may these rather be turned into curses ; may they be cursed in sleeping or 
in waking, cursed in fasting, eating, and drinking ; cursed in speaking, and in keeping 
silence ; cursed in doors and out of doors ; cursed upon the land and upon the water ; 
cursed from the crown of their heads to the soles of their feet ; may their eyes be blind 
and their ears deaf ; may their mouths become mute and their tongues cleave to their 
jaws ; may their hands be palsied and their feet unable to walk ; may all the members 
of their bodies be accursed ; may they be accursed while standing up or lying down ; may 
they be cursed from to-day to aU eternity ; in the final day of judgment may their 
light be extinguished before the Lord ; may their sepulture be that of the dogs and 
asses ; may their corpses be devoured by ravenous wolves ; and may their eternal com- 
panionship be that of the devil and his angels." ' " 

No comments are offered, none are needed we presume on the language 
of this extract. It is enough to ask, what can we expect from a community 
whose religious teachers are represented in the above-quoted language ? 

How different are the utterances of the poor prisoner's enfranchised Spirit 
given above ! How different the following quotation from the Madrid 
paper El Crilerio, in an article from Senor M. Gonzales on true religion ! 
He says : — 

" Religion was bom with man, and man was boi'n with reHgion . . . That religion 
ought to be the love of all that is beautiful, good and harmonious — thus approaching 
God, the author of all good. . . . Religion demands a clean heart, but here on earth 
it seems that nearly every heart is as black as a coal. It requires a tranquil conscience ; 
but on this globe, in almost every conscience there is a desolating tempest. It requires 
an immense love ; but here we can but barely tolerate each other." 

Commenting too on the ceaseless war directed by the clergy against the 
Spiritualists, Madme. Soler writes in her delightful Barcelona paper of what 
Spain has been and might now be, telling us of what Spain has done for the 
world, of her ancient splendour, power, learning, but now of her degeneracy, 
attributable to priestcraft — page after page, in fact, that must stir to their 
very depths the hearts of all Spain's children not dead, not too deeply 
steeped in ignorance and bigotry. 

Meantime the work progressed bravely under all the opposition brought 
to bear upon it. In April, 188 r, the editor of the Madrid El Criteria 
says : — 



4o8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" That great progress has been made in Madrid in the cause of Spiritualism ; that the 
hall of meeting of the Spiritual Society ' is completely full every Thursday evening,' and 
is not now large enough ' to hold the public who come to the sessions ' ; that Dr. 
Merschejewski has called the attention of the University of St. Petersburg to a 
psychometric phenomenon of much importance ; to wit : A young man, deemed from 
childhood to be an idiot, who will in some seconds solve any mathematical problem, while 
if a poem be read to him, even of many hundred verses^ he will repeat the whole of it 
without failing in a single word." 

Senor Manuel Lopez in the same issue of El Criterio says, speaking of 
the progress of a society of Spiritualists in Madrid : — 

" We have received a mediumistic work of extraordinary merit, executed by a medium 
of the ' Society of Spiritualists ' of Zaragoza. It consists of a portrait of Isabel the 
Catholic, made with a pencil, and is a work truly admirable. It is said by intelligent 
persona who have examined it to be an exact copy of one preserved in the Royal Museum 
of Painters of this Court. Many thanks are tendered to the Zaragozan Society for this 
highly appreciated present. 

" From Corunna is announced the formation of a new spiritualistic association. 

" Under the title of ' Nicodemo,' Don Josd Amigo has published a work that is destined 
to do a great deal of good to the cause of Spiritualism." 

It was about the end of the year 1880, that the Spiritualists of Spain 
sustained another series of attacks from the Church of a highly characteristic 
nature. 

The first of these was the refusal of the clergy to accord the customary 
rites of interment to the remains of two ladies, both of irreproachable 
character, and good standing in society, but both guilty of the crying 
iniquity of having believed in Spiritual manifestations. 

The honoured form of one of these ladies had to be carried back to 
the dwelling of her distracted husband, and await such concessions as 
could be made, before the Church's vengeance against the silent dead could 
be appeased From Alcoy, Seville, Ubeda, and numbers of other places 
came letters of condolence with the bereaved families whose feelings 
had been thus outraged, whilst indignant protests of citizens from all 
quarters were made against what was considered to be a violation alike of 
decency, humanity, and the noble principles of religion. Of course the 
Spiritualists did not fail to make good use of this case, and shocked as they 
were at the pain and insult inflicted upon the survivors, they improved the 
occasion to call attention to the character of the sacerdotal institutions, to 
whom the people entrusted their eternal welfare, besides urging forward the 
demand for civil jurisdiction in the matter of interment, or the still more 
satisfactory way of disposing of decaying mortality by cremation. 

Dr. Ditson, in reporting the remarks of the different Spanish Spiritual 
papers on this subject, gives the following comments on Donna Soler's 
article in El Criterio. He says : — 

" El Criterio Espvritista of Madrid contains several contributions of much interest and 
importance. Mme. Domingo y Soler's caustic pen revels here in another attack upon the 
Church for assuming the right to consecrate certain parts of God's earth and hold the 
power to exclude from it certain dead bodies — making in one specified instance a cruel 
assault upon a family by obliging it to retransport to its old home a decaying form and 
keep it there for days ; hence the necessity of civil interments, a subject which she 
illustrates with power. The dignity, beauty, and pathos which breathe through all 
Mme. S.'s paragraphs are something admirable. A Bishop of Barcelona (to whom she 
refers) addressing the clergy and urging them to ' arrest the current of civilization that 
like an impetuous torrent penetrates every portion of the earth,' adds : ' It is one of the 
true traditions which is in the consciences of generations that the cadavers are a property 
of the Church ' ; or, strictly rendered, ' a projariedad de la religion.' * Yes,' replies 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 409 

Mme. S., ' you are very reasonable, Sir Bishop ; the religions are the cadavers of the ages, 
and it is just that the bodies of the defunct should have the same resting-place.' Further 
on among other articles of interest is one on " Civil Interments.' It was written because 
another worthy citizen had been refused sepulture in a Catholic burying-ground, on 
account of his advocacy of Spiritualism. Mme. Soler then takes occasion to describe what 
she saw and heard on the 18th of May last at a grave where Don Miguel Vives pronounced 
a memorable and fitting discourse. It being on a holiday many citizens came out of an 
idle curiosity ; but it seems that the sound words of the orator were largely approved — 
he 'demonstrating the conveniencia of civil interments, for it was now an era when 
humanity was shaking off the yoke of the religions of the past and adopting a 
rational faith. He explained that Spiritualism was a school of philosophy racionalista, 
demonstrating to man that only by his good works would he be saved.' . . . And 
these cemeteries the authoress regards as only to be required for a short time more, for 
cremation with its sanitary issues is to make them tenantless." 

The second raid which the Church in Spain perpetrated about this time 
to the prejudice of the Spirituahsts, was the suppression of a well-written 
Spiritual paper published at Lerida, entitled E/ Biien Sentido. The Bishop 
of Lerida had long threatened this step, and warned the fearless editor to 
beware how he presumed to allow any writings reflecting upon clerical 
doings to appear in his columns. As some of the principal contributors 
were Madame Soler, Mdlle. Sans, Don Murillo, and others equally capable 
of arraigning the intolerant acts which Church policy seemed determined to 
push against the Spiritualists, it was scarcely likely that the Bishop's threats 
would produce much eifect, or induce El Buen Sentidds contributors to 
pronounce the black doings of the clergy to be white. 

The last article which seemed to inflame the oppressors to retaliate was 
an indignant protest which appeared in the columns of this paper on 
the condemnation of a working man to three years' imprisonment, leaving 
a family of children destitute, and all for speaking in public against the 
intolerance of the Church. 

This was enough. To arraign the Church was to deserve the moral 
death which the time permitted, in lieu of the physical death which only 
two centuries before, would have certainly ensued, and so El Buen Sentido 
was put to ecclesiastical torture and death, In a fine article written on 
this subject by the editor oi El Espiritisia of Zaragoza it is said : — 

" Some ten years since the respectable head of a family visited Barcelona, where he 
became convinced of the realities of our faith. On his return he called his family (all of 
age) together, and told them of the rapid spread of Spiritualism in the aforesaid capital 
since the auto da fe, made by the order of a bishop, of the works of Allan Kardec. . . , 
And, as has been expressed by the spirit of Marietta, in her immortal book written in 
Zaragoza, the thoughts that arose from these flames have been spread by the winds over 
the earth. . . . and thus little by little an air will be created in which all can 
freely breathe. ... In the family above referred to were developed several mediums, 
and all became enthusiastic Spiritualists." 

As an evidence that the tactics of the clergy of all denominations, and 
in all countries, are ever the same, when their craft is in danger, the 
reader may see in the following extract from a Madrid secular paper how 
the cry of the American and English clergy, to the effect, '' that SpirituaHsm 
is all the work of Satan and his imps " is either borrowed from, or repeated 
by, the clerical savants of Spain. El Criterio, the journal in question, 
says : — 

" Spiritualism is true enough ; but its facts all proceed from a class of fallen reprobate 
spirits, who try by every seductive art to alienate Christians from their church, and thus 
eternally to destroy their souls. In our day, these devils assume the names and per- 
sonalities of our dearest friends, and by working upon the minds of educated and 



4IO NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

intelligent converts, thus effectually seek the destruction of nations as well as individuals. 
Like atheism, Spiritualism leads directly to hell, and mere attendance at a seance is a 
mortal sin," 

The editor of the Spiritual E/ Cn'ferio, after a most pungent review of 
this stuff, says : — 

" In Madrid they have put upon the stage (at the theatre Variedades) a play called 
* Arturo, the Spiritualist.' This, like several that were presented last year at the minor 
theatres under the title of 'The Spirits,' and ' The Spirit Lover,' are of course simply to 
ridicule our cause ; but they in reality aid it wonderfully, for only something of moment 
is worth such effort." 

In the same number of EI Criterio, dated 1881, is a letter from Don 
Migueles, in which he gives a somewhat discouraging account of "the 
cause " as it recently existed in Spain. The editor says : — 

" Don Migueles visited many cities to examine into the state of affairs of a spiritua 
nature, but found many who were only to be enticed by physical phenomena, caring 
nothing for the esoteric beauties of our faith ; many who were convinced that they knew 
all there was to be known concerning it, and others who were timid, fearing the dis- 
approval of neighbours. In some places, however, excellent mediums were discovered. 
In Santiago, in Oviedo, in Corunna and Valladohd, an exceptional interest was manifest. 
Near Santiago there was a young girl possessed of wonderful faculties, Two bars of 
magnetized iron held over her horizontally, half a metre distant, were sufficient to suspend 
her body in the air. 

" The proceedings of the Spanish Society, under the name of the sesiones de Oontroversio, 
in the month of April last, are spoken of in the Critic as markedly impressive on account 
of the lofty sentiments maintained throughout the discussions, by the various speakers. 
' In the past month were given also very interesting conferencias by our illustrious 
brothers, the Sres. EeboUedo and Huelbes.' The able engineer and inventor, belonging 
to the Society of Santiago de Chili and fotmder of that of Lima, D. E. Caruana y Berard, 
has just arrived in Madrid. The Revista Espiritista of Barcelona mentions the visit which 
its editor has made to the central societies of Spiritualists of Sabodell and Tarrasa, where 
' a great number of brethren were assembled on the occasion, and which will result in 
great good to the doctrine.' " 

The Barcelona Lux, of date i88x, gives encouraging accounts of seances 
held at Cordova, Tarragona, Seville, and many other places. The editor, 
Mad3.me Soler, also refers to the prohibition to Catholics, by an archbishop 
to have or to read the Spiritualistic work of Niram Aliv; of the "Society 
of Spiritualists " of Tarrasa ; of the circle of Santa Cruz of Tenerif ; of that 
of " Faith, Hope, and Charity," of Andujar, and of St. Vincent de Bogota. 
Here is also a brief statement of the intimacy that existed between the 
widow of Baron Van de Weyer (daughter of the late Mr. Bates of the firm 
of Baring and Co.) and the Queen Victoria. Lady Van de Weyer lived in 
a magnificent chateau near Windsor Castle, and it is said that no day 
passed in which Lady de W. and the Queen were not together ; that, as 
they both believed in Spiritualism, they counselled each with their respec- 
tive departed husbands. 

The editor also gives extracts from a new Spiritual catechism which has 
been published by one of the circles in Barcelona entitled El Frogresso 
Moral. 

Spiritualism in the States of Spanish-America has already been touched 
upon in a former chapter. No new features of interest have altered the 
status of " the cause " in South America. Two or three of the journals 
published in the interest of Spiritualism have been obliged to surrender to 
the clerical ban. The brave editors of the Buenos Ayres Constancia still 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 411 

hold their own, and tidings come from Caraccas, Venezuela, Mexico, and 
many other places that the organs of the faith still live, and Mediumistic 
power is rapidly on the increase. 

Considering the large share of popular attention bestowed by the Euro- 
pean and American nations upon their recent visitor, his Majesty of 
Brazil, Dom Pedro de Alcantara, and more especially bearing in mind the 
reputation generally accorded to that illustrious personage for liberality of 
sentiment and enlightenment of mind, the reader may peruse with some 
interest and not a little surprise, the following report of a scene which 
occurred as late as the spring of 1882, the particulars of which were trans- 
lated into English for the columns of the Religio Philosophical Journal of 
Chicago, and read as follows : — 

" The Academic Society of Spiritualists holding session in Brazil, have lately suffered 
much persecution at the hands of the Brazilian authorities. By a public mandate, the 
society and all branches thereof, were forbidden to hold any more meetings from and 
after the date of the ordinance, on pain of chastisement. Recourse was had to his 
majesty, the Emperor Dom Pedro de Alcantara, wii^h whom the following short dialogue 
took place, one of the commissioners detailed by the society acting as spokesman : — 

' Speaker. — The management of the Sociedade Academica beg leave to place in your 
hands this exposition, corroborated by the numbers of their organ, the Revista, which 
have been published up to to-day, desiring the wise counsel of your majesty. 

' Emperor. I do not believe in Spiritism ; I am in accord with the ideas of the 
Councillor of State. 

' Speaker. — We are convinced that your majesty will protect the Academic Society 
which is suffering persecution on account of its investigation of Spiritism. 

' Emperor. — I do not consent to any persecution, but I only protect the ideas with 
which I sympathise. 

' Speaker. — We ask your majesty's protection by causing to be recognised and 
respected the right of investigation which belongs to us. 

' Emperor. — You have the right, gentlemen, to investigate everything ; but I would 
advise you to investigate something else [than Spiritism]. 

' Speaker. — We do investigate everything, including even the Constitution of the 
Empire.' 

" Other conversation ensued between his majesty and different members of the 
committee, and the conference terminated — the former promising to read the ' exposition,' 
and the latter that after fifteen days they would return to receive the Emperor's ' wise 
counsel.' At the end of fifteen days the delegation from the society again sought the 
presence of his majesty, when the following conversation occurred : — 

' Speaker. — Sire, we come to receive the wise counsel which we had the honour of 
soliciting from your imperial majesty in behalf of our rights. 

' Emperor. — Seek the Minister of the Empire and have an understanding with him. 

' Speaker. — Among the petitions which we have addressed to the government 
demanding the guarantees which the law concedes to us, some have been treated vdth 
indifference and others have received but slow attention ; and now, as some days since we 
came to consult vsdth your majesty, the Chief of Police judged himself authorised to 
impose upon us a suspension of our labours. Until then the persecution was dissembled ; 
but it has now become manifest, and violence has been employed against an association 
which is beneficent and orderly as all its acts will prove. 

' Emperor. — But what is it that the gentlemen desire ? Do they wish the approbation 
of the statutes ? I agree with the idea of the Parecer (some ordinance or legal opinion). 

' Speaker. — Your majesty will pardon us, but we have demonstrated in the Revista, a 
collection of which accompanied the representation, that we had the honour of handing 
to your majesty, that that Parecer is not applicable to this society ; and we only ask the 
approbation of the statutes. . . . The right of re-union is guaranteed to us as a 
scientific society by the law of December 19th, 1860, which regulates scientific and literary 
societies. 

' Emperor. — But spiritism is not a science. 

' Speaker. — We beg that your majesty consider that all the phenomena of the universe 
being susceptible of observation, and scientific analysis, are facts, and the spirit phenomena, 
although qualified as metaphysical and supernatural, are none the less facts, and being 
submitted to investigation by the experimental method, lead us to a knowledge of the 
laws which govern them, and that constitutes spiritual science. 



412 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

' Emperor. — Oh ! yes, in that way, but it is better to occupy your time with other 
studies. 

' Speaker. — We come to ask your majesty, zealous of the prerogatives of your subjects 
and the first to give an example of obedience to the law, that you protect us against 
persecution. 

' Emperor. — Nobody shall persecute you, but — you do not wish to be martyrs now. 

' Speaker. — We believe that in this enlightened century there is no room for 
martyrdom. We have no desire to pose as martyrs, but we ask and demand tolerance in 
accordance with the provisions of the decree 2711. 

' Emperor. — The Minister of the Empire is in possession of your papers which I sent 
him. He wiU give a solution.' 

" The commission took leave of his majesty, convinced that they would have to appeal 
to the legislative body to have the rights of Brazilian Spiritualists recognized. By this 
conversation they were satisfied that the Emperor is opposed to Spiritism, and if so, that 
he will, perhaps, wish to embarrass the progress of the Sociedade Academica, ' but we do 
not suppose he will do it openly,' says the editor of the Revista, ' for by declaring himself 
frankly against us he wUl turn over to our camp not only all who are averse to imperialism, 
but besides aU the malcontents of every sort. 

" The Revista will continue to be published, and by some provision of the law, meetings 
of the Society and its branches will continue to be held provided no more than twenty 
persons assemble in one place." 

The editor of the Chicago journal containing this report adds in con- 
clusion : — 

" The Spiritists of Brazil may be assured of the sympathy of 20,000, oOO of Spiritualists 
in the United States and of all the other millions scattered over the whole globe, upon 
whom the sun never sets. Dom Pedro wUl come to his senses one of these days and see 
the error of his ways. The obstacles in the way of spiritual progress are only apparent, 
and the advance of the cause will prove to have been all the greater in the end." 

To this conclusion there are but few of our readers who will not cordially 
say Amen ! 

As a closing salute, and to show that the unhappy warfare waged by the 
clergy and the Spiritualists of Spain, proceeds from the very source in which 
Spiritualism should have found its warmest friends and supporters, we give a 
paragraph which has now — in 1883 — been going the round of most of the 
European Spiritual journals. It is as follows : — 

" El Iris de Paz, of Huesca, March 25th, ' supplement.' This little sheet is nearly all 
taken up with the document (and response) of the Bishop of Huesca, which is a ' fulmi- 
nation of excommunication pronounced against all Spiritualists and all subscribers to and 
readers of spiritualistic papers.' " 

" Whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad," says the classic 
proverb. If that be true, then may the mad fury of the Spanish Catholic 
clergy be considered as ilruly divine. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 413 



CHAPTER L. 

SPIRITUALISM IN EUROPE (CONCLUDED.) 

Austria, Belgium, and Turkey. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AUSTRIA. 

[Writien expressly for '• Nineteenth Cefitury Miracles " dy the Baroness Adelma Von Vay.] 

When " American Spirit rapping, and table turning " was first talked of in 
Austria, we also commenced to experiment. Everybody tried it. 

I was at that time a mere child, but I remember well how splendidly we 
children could make the table dance ; also, that my help was always required 
to produce this manifestation. On one occasion during the table turning 
I was seized with a swoon, after which the practice was forbidden in my 
parents' house. 

I had a cousin who was a wonderful "Medium." She wrote with a 
small table, the fourth leg of which was a pencil (Planchette). 

The table would write the contents of sealed letters correctly ; discover 
thefts, and gave the best possible tests. That young lady was endowed 
with so much magnetic force that the piano, a heavy dining table, or other 
large bodies, would move, by her simply touching them with one finger. 

In her presence also Spirit forms and lights were seen — still neither she 
nor her family knew anything about Spiritualism. 

After my cousin married, she conceived an aversion to Spiritual manifes- 
tations, and when still later, I urged her to read Allan Kardec's writings 
she declared such studies always made her faint. 

In Austria, Spiritualism was first promulgated by M. Constantine Delby 
of Vienna. He was a warm adherent of Allan Kardec's, and founded a 
society under legal auspices, besides starting a Spiritual journal. The 
society numbered but few members, in fact Spiritualism never obtained 
much foothold in Vienna. A.t Buda-Pesth it was quite otherwise. 

About 1867, there resided in Buda-Pesth a poor woman who had a 
daughter who was evidently a fine trance Medium. This girl, when about 
thirteen years of age, would fall into trances spontaneously, during which 
she would speak eloquently, and converse on many subjects most wonder- 
fully. About this time, too, a woman who had resided many years in 
America returned to Buda-Pesth, and hearing of the young trance Medium, 
called upon her. " The American," as she was called, was only in humble 
circumstances, but she had seen much of Spiritualism, and subscribed to 
the Banner of Light from her small earnings, as a teacher of English. 
Obscure as these beginnings were, they soon attracted a large number of 
observers. Many people went to hear the somnambule, and talk with " the 
American" about SpirituaUsm. 

In a short time a considerable amount of interest was awakened, and 
many persons of note began to take part in the circles that were being 
formed, amongst these were Mr. Anton Prohasker, and Dr. Adolf Griinhut, 
who was a friend of ours and had become an ardent Spiritist through my 
influence. 



414 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

At length a society was formed, legalized by the State, of which my 
husband, Baron Edmund Vay, was elected president. 

Mr. Lishner, of Pesth, built a handsome seance room which the society 
rented. At the present time, we have one hundred and ten members, 
many of them being Hebrews, though all are believers in Jesus Christ, and 
better Christians than many other so-called, and professing to be Christians. 
My husband. Baron Vay, is now the honorary president. Dr. Griinhut is 
the active president, and these together with myself and Mr. Prohasker 
were amongst the most devoted and faithful workers. 

The principles of the society, indeed the basis of it are — Geist Kraft 
Staff (Baroness Adelma Von Vay) and the works of Allan Kardec — purely 
Christian Spiritism. We never encouraged paid Mediumship — nobody 
takes a fee in our society. All the officers are voluntary and honorary. 
We have no physical Medium, but good trance, writing and seeing 
Mediums, and a spirit of true Christian charity and love binds our 
members together. We lost our dear good worker the excellent Mr. 
Prohasker in 1879 — ^ great loss indeed it was to our society. The earnest 
mind and noble spirit of Dr. Griinhut and his indefatigable labours for 
truth and progress are deserving of all praise. 

In my book, "Studien liber die Geisterwelt," I related how I myself 
became aware of my Mediumistic powers. 

I had been married some years and was an ardent, and I believe a pious 
Catholic, when Dr. Griinhut, who was a great mesmerist, came to our 
house. He told me that he saw the word seership imprinted on my brow, 
and urged me to sit for automatic writing. At first I refused, but after a 
time curiosity prompted me to try the experiment. Immediately my arm 
was shaken by a strange force, after which I began to write automatically 
some wonderful information which was soon verified. As my husband and 
mother-in-law were deeply interested I tried again, all the while knowing 
nothing about Spiritism. It was " the saints " who wrote. They told me 
about the doctrine of Re-incarnation, and wrote homoeopathic prescriptions 
for the poor and suffering, I, at that time, knowing nothing of homoeopathy. 
Very soon my husband and I became the medical attendants of all the 
people around, mesmerizing and curing them with the aid of homoeopathy. 
The Church remonstrated, but we would not discontinue our practice. 
Whilst we were living on our estate in Hungary, I was called on by a Mr. 
Piko who presented me with a copy of Kardec's " Livre des Esprits." 
Soon after that, I began taking the Ba?iner of Light. My first publication 
was a prayer-book " Betracht fiir Alle," then came "Geist Kraft Stofif;" 
"Studien fiber die Geisterwelt ;" " Visionen im Wasserglas ;" "Eugahlun- 
gen des Ewigem Mfitterlains ; " and now " Tagebuch eines Kleinem 
Madchens." 

Conjointly with two other Mediums I published "The Four Evangels — 
An Explanation by the Spirits." Its title " Reformirende Blatter," published 
by Waigner, Boulvard 21, Buda-Pesth. 

After the publication of my books, the Catholic priests would no longer 
give me absolution. They pronounced me a heretic, and would excom- 
municate me, upon which, I forthwith became a Protestant, the faith of my 
mother, husband, and his family ; his Excellency the Baron Nicholas Von 
Vay, being the head of the Calvinist Church in Hungary. 

This is but a brief account of Spiritualism in Austria and Hungary. 



The many readers of the Spiritual journals in America and Europe who 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 415 

have become familiar with articles pr quotations from the writings of the 
Baroness Adelma Von Vay — read and been struck with their purity of tone 
and exalted religious spirit, however much they may disagree with the 
amiable and devoted lady, in minor points — will take no exception to the 
publication of her simple sketch with scarcely any alteration of the diction. 
The firmness and consistency with which a person in her position, with 
her education and surroundings, yielded to her honest convictions, and 
despite the ban of the Church she had been taught to reverence, faithfully 
gave to the world the published results of her newly-born faith, are circum- 
stances which can only be fully appreciated by those who can or will — 
" put themselves in her place." 

As the Baroness's modesty prevents her from dwelling upon one feature 
of her life which in itself would be more than sufficient to atone for any 
diversities of opinion on doctrine or theoretical beliefs, we supplement her 
little sketch with a brief extract, the nature and authorship of which speaks 
for itself. It is as follows : — 

"the baroness adelma von vay a healing medium. 

" Our daily programme, although always diversified, was made up of riding, driving, 
walking, paying visits, entertaining, and last, but not least, for the Baroness is a veritable 
humanitarian, comforting the afflicted and distressed. 

" The peasant population maintain an implacable faith in her power to alleviate pain. 
From far and near, they bring their sick for her tender ministration ; and, in her boudoir, 
I found many an offering in token of some great good she had done, some rich blessing 
she had wrought for those who, if poor in purse, were rich in gratitude towards their 
noble benefactress. 

" It was touching to see this beautiful, high-born lady, tending some poor unfortunate 
creature, bent and racked with pain. It was gratifying, too, to remark the growing light 
come into the hollow, sunken eyes, as they followed each movement of their 'Frau 
Grafin,' whilst busy preparing that which would bring relief to the sufferer. Besides this, 
the Baroness's bright face is ever a welcome sight in all the homesteads of the poorest 
and lowliest in the district, and many lips breathe blessings upon her for her goodness 
and generosity. — My Visit to Styria, by Caroline Cobner." 

spiritualism in BELGIUM. 

Spiritualism in Belgium seems to have proceeded from much the same 
cause, and moved onward under the same impulses as those which have 
been already noticed in other European countries. 

Being chiefly under Catholic domination, the Spiritualists of Belgium 
have had to contend incessantly against the antagonism of that persecuting 
sect. Still much progress has been made, and systematic investigation has 
been carried on very faithfully, whilst the literature of the subject, both in 
quantity and quality, may be considered as on a par with that of any other 
country. 

M. Jobard, director of the Miisee de V Industrie at Brussels, whose name 
is honourably known to all European Spiritualists, has for many years past 
exerted himself indefatigably both as a writer and personal propagandist, 
in the cause of Spiritualism. In the early days of the movement, Mesmerism 
was largely practised in Belgium, and by many it was regarded as a stepping' 
stone to Spiritualism, and a more reliable mode of obtaining occult know- 
ledge, than through the invocatory processes of the Spirit circle. Our readers 
will doubtless remember the case of "Louise Lateau," the so-called "ecstatic," 
a young girl in the humblest ranks of life, upon whose person^ periodical 
representations of the stigmata were found to appear. As this was the first 



41 6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

notorious case of the kind that was known in Belgium, and the clergy were 
of opinion that it was in order, to call the manifestation a miracle, and 
attribute its occurrence to the interposition of the Virgin Mary, the interest 
it excited was very favourable to the subject of Spiritual manifestations. 
Whilst a warm controversy was proceeding between the clergy and the 
medical faculty, the former crying " Miracle," and the latter " Mesmerism,". 
— although in point of fact the girl had never been mesmerized at all — 
several kindred cases began to occur in different parts of the country, under 
circumstances that put both the above-named attempts at explanation, 
hors de combat. 

One of these " ecstatics," was thus reported of, in La Gazette Fetrus, from 
which we give the following translation : — 

" In the commune of Vallengreville there is a young girl eighteen years of age who 
carries the stigmates du Christ. The feet, the hands, the side, the forehead are pierced, 
leaving wounds two centimetres long by half of one wide. Her head bears the imprint of 
the crown of thorns. These wounds bleed on Friday at 3 o'clock, and the girl suffers 
intensely. Physicians have interested themselves in this matter, and found that for three 
weeks the girl took not a particle of food : that she could seemingly fast indefinitely." 

Very soon after the pubUcation of this item, the different journals of 
Belgium became flooded with accounts of " ecstatics " and fasting girls, 
from a large number of which we select the following, as being the best 
authenticated. 

Professor Lasagne reported in the Nationale the case of a servant girl 
in his own family of whom he says : — " Her lower limbs became paralyzed, 
her skin became insensible, and she fell into a trance (une espece de somno- 
lence), and so remained for three months without taking other nourishment 
than tea. She recovered quite recently, and is now in her usual state of 
rugged health." 

The editor of Z' Univers, a strictly Catholic organ, not to be outdone by 
a simply scientific report of an " ecstatic " character, immediately followed 
up Professor Las6gue's statement with the following narrative of religious 
ecstacy : — 

" The Holy Virgin has appeared anew this year to two women of Dietrichswald, 
Prussia. The vision remains only eight or nine minutes, during which time these two 
persons are in a complete state of extase, pale, insensible as statues. The priests and 
other pilgrims pass to them pieces of folded paper containing questions addressed to the 
Virgin. These they read without opening (one in her normal state knows not how to 
read) and transmit the response of the Virgin, which is always strictly in accord with the 
questions, and often surpasses enormously the level of the intelligence of these women." 

The Messager of Liege, an excellent Spiritual paper, in commenting on 
this case, shrewdly remarks that the subjects are evidently "Mediums," 
whilst the "visions" they behold are mainly characterized by the religious 
influences that surround them. 

Anticipating the date of our record by a few years, we may add to our 
notice of Belgium " ecstatics," a description given in a thoughtful and 
scholarly work issued in i88o, by Dr. J. Theyskeus, under the title of 
" On the Abuse of the Supernatural." 

It should be stated that Dr. Theyskeus has held the post of inspector of 
hospitals for the insane in the Arrondissement of Malines, and though not 
exactly yielding to the SpirituaHsts' behef of obsession by Spirits, he seems 
to think that a great number of those persons incarcerated under the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. \ 417 

sobriquet of " lunatics," are in conditions of hypochondria, which clPsely 
conform to what ecclesiastics call "ecstacy," and Spiritualists "obsession." 
The special case mentioned in Dr. Theyskeu's work, to which attention 
may be profitably called, reads in translation as follows : — 

" Marie van Regemortel, a girl of twenty years, inhabitant of Dussel, near Antwerp, 
after some hysterical manifestations of great intensity, had frightful fantastic visions, 
then tableaux of beauty ; a state of syncopy supervening that continued, without her 
taking any food, for weeks. For the last year, however, this invalid has had no 
hysterics, properly so called, nor hallucinations, but represents now the phenomenon of a 
double life. There is in her actually two intellectual existences well separated ; one normal, 
ordinary, and another that may be named a second state. When one pays her a visit, no 
matter at what hour of the day, she is always found in the second state, which has now 
become the habitual one. Persons not in the habit of seeing her cannot think that she is ill. 
She converses perfectly well, reasons as do others, and writes better than in her normal 
state. She executes marvellous work with the crochet needle, which she had never 
learned and could not do in her former ordinary life. Her hearing is also excessively 
acute. In a word, her sense and intelligence are intact. A peculiar symptom accom- 
panies this condition ; she absolutely cannot swalloxo any liquid, and with difficulty 
solids. The oesophagus seems also completely paralyzed. On the other hand, in her first 
condition, she is more sad, more prostrated ; but she can swallow liquids and solids, 
though she absolutely cannot utter a word. The paralysis is moved from the oesophagus to 
the larynx. She rephes, by writing, to questions put to her. In this state she has no 
recollection of what has passed in the other, and in the latter nothing of what occurred 
in the former. En risumi, there are with this girl two perfectly distinct existences, and 
they are never confounded. In the one she recalls perfectly, and no matter at what 
epoch, what had transpired in the same state previously, no matter if weeks or months 
have intervened. ... If asked which of these is her real normal physiological state, 
one supposes that the second is, in which she talks and reasons lucidly ; and this as she has 
an aptitude she has not in her normal state ; here, too, her esprit is more vivacious, her 
look more piercing, her language more animated than before her illness. . . ." 

Quite recently the author has received from M. Dijon, a surgeon of some 
eminence at Marseilles, though now residing at Brussels, accounts of two 
of his patients, sisters, and daughters of a leading public functionary in 
Belgium, the particulars of which closely correspond with those above 
detailed. 

The girls are twins of about fourteen years of age. They have suddenly 
given themselves over to prolonged fasts, some of which last for twelve or 
even fifteen days. When separated at the suggestion of their medical atten- 
dants, their fasts and vision-seeing states, exactly correspond with each 
other in point of time and manner. 

Sometimes they speak in unknown tongues with great volubility. Some- 
times they not only declare they see "the saints in glory," but, says M. 
Dijon, " they affect to perso7iate these saints, and preach in the most subhme 
and exalted strain as if they were the holy personages whose names they 
borrow." 

To the author's suggestion that these young ladies may be " Mediums," 
and if questioned in their trances, might confirm this statement, or explain 
their own case, the worthy surgeon replied, that the parents were rigid 
Catholics, and by the advice of their priests, treated the patients to holy 
water and penitential psalms, whilst he himself prescribed alternations of 
blue pill and iron tonics. 

M. Dijon adds: — "You would be astonished, Madame, to know the 
number of cases to which I have been called in Catholic families, termed 
by the priests 'demoniacal obsession,' by you Spiritualists ' Mediumship,' 
and by my medical associates 'hysteria.' I am quite aware that neither 
the first nor the last terms mean more than words. When I have seen more 
27 



41 8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

of Sjiritualism, I may find the solvent in your phraseology of Mediumship, 
an/ if I do, I shall consider it to be a disease, with which one-third of the 
X),ang women in Catholic countries are affected. . . ." 

About 1870, an important impulse was communicated to the cause of 
Spiritualism in Belgium, by the first publication of the excellent Spiritual 
journal known as Le Messager. Since that event, several other Spiritual 
periodicals have been started, all of which have contributed to the dissemi- 
nation of Spiritual knowledge. At present, besides La Messager, there are 
four other journals devoted to this subject, namely. La Moniteur, of 
Brussels ; Le Galileen and De Rots, of Ostend ; and Le Moniteur de la 
Federatio?i Beige. Although the Spiritual papers of Belgium deal more 
with the literature of the subject than with records of phenomena, their 
scholarly style, and the indefatigable efforts that have been made to sustain 
them, reflect the highest credit upon the Belgian Spiritual Brotherhood. 

Amongst the distinguished American Mediums who have visited Belgium, 
none have excited a greater interest than Mr, Slade, whose arrival in 1877, 
brought forth the usual amount of controversy from the opponents and 
defenders of the cause, and in this sense, in addition to his striking 
Mediumship, performed the good service of wide-spread propagandism. 

The following notice from Le Moniteur oi Brussels, of the year 1880, 
will show some of the real workings of those means by which itinerant 
conjurers pretend to expose Spiritualism, when they find that exhibitions of 
true Spiritual phenomena do not pay. 

Taking advantage of the eagerness with which the clergy seize hold of 
any and every occasion, however small, or any means, however contempti- 
ble, to deride and misrepresent Spiritualism, many an unprincipled adven- 
turer, endowed with veritable Medium power, has succeeded in gaining 
that amount of remunerative attention from the public, under clerical 
patronage, which they could not secure under the clerical ban. Very few 
of these accommodating itinerants possess the courage or conscientiousness 
that marks the action of Mr. Verbeck — the subject of the succeeding 
extract. The reader may judge for himself how closely this exhibitor's case 
fits that of many others, by perusing the Moniteur' s account as follows : — 

" Mons. J^supret, writing from Douai concerning an exhibition given there by a Mr. 
Verbeck, ' a prestidigitateur,' says that he operates without preparation, without boxes 
with a double bottom, with sleeves drawn back, and that his direct writing is his most 
surprising feat. He first sends a single pair of folding slates among the audience, that all 
may see that they are wholly free from any marks or characters whatever. Then ten 
persons, known to be of honourable reputation, are severally asked to write a question, 
and place it in an envelope. The ten envelopes being collected are presented to some 
lady who is requested to take one au hasard, and keep it. Of the other nine he gives 
account, which is recognized by each of the writers. The slates, which have not left the 
audience, are requested to give answer to the question involved in the letter that had been 
taken by the lady ; and Mr. V. then reads it aloud : ' What is the name of the most cele- 
irated enchanter ? ' One of the most estimable of citizens, placing a bit of pencil between 
the slates, closing them, and holding them up so that all can see them, hears writing 
within ; then, after a little shock announcing the completion of the writing, the slates are 
opened, and the following found therein : ' The name of the most celebrated of enchanters 
is Merlin, of Douai, celebrated jurisconstil, born at Arteux in 1754, died in 1838, Minister 
of Justice.' The astonishment of the audience at the response obtained under such con- 
ditions cannot be described. Mr. Verbeck, with whom the writer was during the 
exhibition, declared to me, he says, ' that the writing was not the result of his talent, but 
most assuredly the work of spirits ; that he was a medium, and a Spiritualist ; 
that for three years he had thus been favoured with communications ; that lately at Lille, 
among intimate friends (afterwards confirmed by them) he had obtained like results. 
Indeed, Verbeck declared publicly that the slate-writing was not caused by his ad/resse.' 
Mons. J^supret adds that his father, and his friend Bonnefont, had given a private ' con- 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 419 

ference ' at Vitry-en-Artois, and were much commended ; and that a wealthy proprietor, 
whom they did not know, had offered to them a large hall, where they could give a jpublic 
lecture on Spiritualism." 

Still another case of well-known and even acknowledged Mediumship was 
ostentatiously announced as an unexplained mental phenomenon by the 
Btlgxc Journal des Beaux Arts in the following terms : — 

'' There is at Bruges a wonderful httle girl, a child, Louise Van de Kirkhove, who 
paints with such marvellous skill and rapidity that she attracts vast crowds to her studio. 
In the presence of more than two hundred individuals who came to see her and be con- 
vinced of her powers, she has produced her beautiful works, and nearly all her visitors 
have received some souvenir of her genius." 

It may not be amiss at this point to call attention to a curious incident 
which has been going the round of the Spiritual papers, copied from a 
quite new journal started by Dr. B. Cyriax, of Leipzig, entitled Spiritual- 
istische Blatter. A notice of Dr. Cyriax's admirable paper, together with the 
item in question, would have appeared in the German section of this work, 
had not the latter been completed before the item was published. It is 
now given in a condensed form, and is suggestive of many cases which 
might run in parallel lines were there many other professional conjurers 
as conscientious as Herr Weder. The May number of Light for 1883 has 
the following report : — 

"a stance at LEIPZIG. 

" A new German journal, the Spiritualistische Blatter, devoted to popularising and 
elucidating the reality of modern Spiritualism, contains in a recent number the letter of 
a medium to the editor, relating the way by which he was led to discover his gift. He 
says : — 

"'I made the acquaintance of Mr. Fox, the prestidigitateur, at Berlin, in 1882. He 
said he was desirous of extending his professional operations. His representations led me 
to become his partner, I bringing in 10,000 marks (£500). His intention was to make an 
extensive anti-spiritualist tour armed with all the latest secrets of the Spiritualists which, 
he said, we could obtain from dealers in conjurors' tricks, but at high prices. This I 
found to be the case, for the charge for the cord with which to do what is called the rope- 
trick, with the secret how to use it, was 300 marks, and so in proportion for other more 
elaborate contrivance. 

" ' At the end of six months all was arranged, manager and assistants were engaged, 
when I met an old acquaintance, Herr Troll, who had been manager to Herr Hansen, the 
Danish professor of magnetism : he told me of a genuine spiritualist seance at Leipzig, 
the medium, whom he knew, being E. Schraps. I determined to go, for neither I nor my 
partner had ever been to such a seance. 1 had assumed with him that what were called 
spiritual phenomena were conjuring tricks. I went with Herr Troll. Before the stance I 
was invited to examine the medium. At my request he stripped completely, and I found 
that beyond ordinary coat, waistcoat, trousers and socks, he had nothing upon him except 
watch and chain. His boots were put outside the room. I was appointed to tie him, 
which I did effectively while Jie sat in an ordinary cane chair. He was tied and the cords 
sealed to the entire satisfaction of all present. His manager was placed in the centre of 
those present, bound with a cord, the ends of which were held by an inquirer like myself, 
whose passivity we also made sure of. I surveyed everything and was satisfied. The light 
was then turned off. 

" ' Presently the medium's watch and chain were flung into the circle without being 
injured ; then followed in succession his coat and his waistcoat ; and finally the medium 
himself was dropped into our laps. After each separate manifestation light was struck 
that the knots aud seals might be examined. They were all intact. The medium was 
apparently unconscious and perfectly passive. His manager said he was in a trance. He 
was carried and placed in his chair. 

" ' During these manifestations phosphoric lights moved about ; there were raps more 
or less loud in different parts of the room ; a musical box was whirled rapidly about 
overhead with other musical instruments playing. 




NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

hand touched mine ; I took hold of it ; it was certainly a living hand, but it 
away in my grasp. 
Then I had the irresistible conviction that there were forces of which I did not 
^derstand the cause and effect. 

On reaching my hotel with Herr Troll, raps sounded about the table, the bed, the 
waU, everywhere. I went out of the room and ascertained that the noises accompanied 
me to any part of the building. And it was not illusion, for they also who were with me 
heard them. I became thus aware that I was myself a medium. Subsequently I learnt 
that I could hold communication with my departed relatives. 

" ' I communicated these experiences to my partner in Berhn, and asked him to come 
to Leipzig, that he might have the same. He came and saw similar phenomena to those 
which I have described. He said they were beyond his comprehension, but could not 
believe them to be spiritual. I asked him to reproduce them. He said he could not. 
Before the public he goes on acting upon the assumption that Spiritualism is trickery, 
without which assumption he could not maintain his position. Of course my partner- 
ship with Mr. Fox is dissolved at the loss of my money. But I am the gainer in happiness, 
and in the conviction of the truth of spiritual and immortal existence. 

" ' The magnetic gift with which God has endowed me I purpose to employ in relieving 
and healing my suffering brethren. 

" ' Chemnitz, Saxony. " ' Wilhblm Weder.' " 

We shall conclude our notice of Belgic Spiritualism by giving a few 
extracts from the journal of M. Henry Lacroix, a French-Canadian gentle- 
man, whose views, though eccentric, and not in favour with some classes 
of Spiritualists, nevertheless do not affect the truth and integrity of his 
statements. 

The author has known M. Lacroix for many years, and can thoroughly 
vouch for the reliability of the following extracts, printed in the Banner of 
Light oi\%%\ :— 

"the cause in BELGIUM. 

" A small monthly sheet, Le, Moniteur, is published in Brussels ; Mr. de Turck is the 
editor. The headquarters for meetings, etc., are in Rue de VEmpereur, 21. Mr. V. Beyns, 
the generous proprietor, there attends zealously to all wants, and exerts elsewhere a good 
influence. His reception was most cordial, and I cannot but praise his warm heart and 
devotedness to the cause. There are several other Oroupes, in Brussels, beside many 
private circles ; one is named ' Paix entre Nous,' or ' Peace between Us,' established since 
1870. It is composed of twenty-nine members, ladies and gentlemen. The stance-hall is 
RueDupout, 21, in suburb Schaerbeck — meetings twice a week. Direct writing in a closed 
book was once obtained at this circle. I spent an evening at the regular stance, and was 
influenced to organize the members into different groups, assigning to each medium a 
suitable rdle. I recounted some of my experience, and showed them the American way of 
proceeding, whereby practical results are obtained. In that consists mainly the object of 
my two years' mission to Europe ; and, at the very start, I can say that my endeavours 
are being crowned everywhere by a good cordial reception and a decided will to set to work 
in the proper way. . . . 

" On Sunday, 14th August, I left Brussels for Eoux, etc., on a spiritual expedition. I 
was accompanied by Mr. Alfred Crignier, of Brussels, a most zealous Spiritist. We passed 
by the battlefield of Waterloo, and saw there some Englishmen, probably, who were 
climbing up the mound on which is erected the famous English lion. At the village of 
Roux, about thirty miles south from Brussels, we were warmly greeted, and walked to a 
scattered neighbouring town, called Gohyssart-Jumet, where I was expected to address, in 
French, an audience of about four hundred. This place is in the province of Hainaut, 
and the majority of the people are employed in coal-pits, numerous here, glass factories 
and foundries, which are many and extensive. In the afternoon I was escorted by a group 
of friends to a nice, clean hall, and soon after Mr. Crignier introduced me to the audience 
as ' an American medium who had come to teach them the American way of proceeding, 
etc' For two hours I stood on the rostrum, addressing listening ears and eyes that 
sparkled with lively interest. . . . Mr. B. Martin, of Brussels, comes periodically to 
address these people, and as he is an able lecturer he has done much toward keeping the 
ball roUing. But the real soul of this organization is Mr. Alfred Crignier, my companion 
and friend. After the conference we went — quite a number of us — to the house of Mr. 
Emile Lefebre, who will assuredly become a successful spirit-photographer. He showed 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 421 

me several plates, on which were very good beginnings of faces, etc. ... I found 
here good elements to develop a materializing medium, and described a person suited for 
such development so accurately that she was recognized at once — the spirits requiring 
that ahient person as their medium for that purpose. At this gentleman's house the 
table was laid and all present partook of the warm, brotherly fare. These Walloons are 
an intelligent people, the Yankees of Belgium. On leaving I was surprised to find that my 
hotel bill had been paid, and I was forced to accept the amount of fare from and to 
Brussels — it being a rule so to do toward all who come to these friends to address them. 

" I went next with friend Crignier to another group, which he established and 
patronizes. It was on our way back to Brussels, at a village called Mont St. Guibert. 
We were expected, and escorted to the sennce-hall by six members of the Fraternity. 
Here I addressed some thirty people for about two hours, and, as at Roux, I found good 
elements of mediumship, which I individually surveyed and described — to the satisfaction 
of all — and established several circles on a new plan, with music, which is generally 
omitted in Europe. While we were entertained at supper at Mr. Boufiioux's house, I was 
influenced to sketch a spirit- picture, which was fully recognized. It startled and pleased 
every one. The people here are poor, but very tidy. A cotton factory gives employment 
to a few hundred. The mechanical overseer of it is our host, Mr. Bouffioux, who is a 
warm intelligent brother, and a ^reat mechanical genius. 

" At Mr. Crigniei 's residence, in Brussels, I organized the select circle held there on a 
new and quite successful basis, as remarkable manifestations occurred at the second 
seance. Two American spirits, one ' Charlie ' (coloured) and ' Red-Skin ' (Indian), were 
brought forward before my vision as immediate controls of this circle. Mr. and Mrs. 
Verheyen, at whose house this circle is held, are heart and hand in the cause, and so is 
Mr. R. C. Van Prehn-Wiese, a gentlemanly Hollander residing in Brussels. From what I 
have seen I feel confident that the cause will gain much in Belgium, when circle-holders 
and Spiritualists at large are made to understand proper conditions. . . ." 

In reference to the present status of Spiritualism in Belgium, the reader 
will find a perfectly reliable summary of the subject in the two following 
extracts, the first being taken from Ze Messager, the second from Le 
Moniieur, both of date 1882 : — 

" The number of those who come out each day from the clouds of error to enter by 
degrees into the light of spiritual truth is relatively so great that the most obstinate of 
our opponents will soon be under the necessity of making a note of it. , . . Three 
years ago the annual general meeting of Spiritualists at Brussels numbered only fifty ; 
this year a meeting called in the same manner was attended by nearly a thousand. The 
largest proportion came from the great mining district of Charleroi." 

■'Mons. J^supret, writing from Douai, says : ' The ideas philosophiques of our beloved 
doctrine have made great progress in our land, where one can now say that he is a 
Spiritualist without the fear of being ridiculed by those gentlemen who think so much of 
themselves, but are generally of no great account. The question of Spiritualism is largely 
agitated among us, awakening public attention, while the press is discreetly silent.' Mons. 
J^supret has been invited to lecture in quite a number of towns of considerable popu- 
lation, Vitry, for instance. Vis-en- Artois and Louvain." 

SPIRITUALISM IN TURKEY. 

Before closing our compendium of European Spiritualism, we must call 
attention to the first unfoldment of the modern Spiritual movement in 
Constantinople. 

It was as early as 1854, when Mr. Lenox Home, the author, whose 
experiences were touched on in our section on EngUsh Spiritualism, 
returned from a sojourn of some months at Constantinople, whither he had 
been called on commercial business. It was from Mr. Home's lips, in the 
city of London, that the author of this work heard for the first time of 
table turning, and it was in the residences of Mr. Home's Turkish associates 
that he himself first witnessed this phenomenon. By some of the Turkish 
merchants residing at Constantinople with whom Mr. Home had business 
relations he was invited to witness a scene which was then as perplexing 



42 2 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

as it was unprecedented ; this was nothing more nor less than the rockings, 
spinnings, and apparently spontaneous movements of tables and other 
inanimate bodies which occurred at times in the houses of different indi- 
viduals, and that without any oth^ visible cause than the presence of any 
one of three young lads who, in some unknown and mysterious way, 
seemed to be connected with these motions. The " living principle," or 
whatever it was, that set chairs and tables dancing was communicated as 
Mr. Home found, sometimes by slight contact between the children's 
hands and the object moved, and sometimes when there was no contact at 
all, and the boys were several feet from the moving mass. 

On one occasion when all the boys were present, and a perfect saturnalia 
was going on amongst articles of furniture which up to that moment had 
been perfectly well behaved and quiescent, the youngest of the boys was 
suddenly lifted up to the ceiling, and after floating for a few seconds above 
the heads of about a dozen astonished witnesses, was seen to descend and 
lie at full length upon one of the divans. Mr. Home remarked, that 
throughout this wonderful act of levitation, the child was sustained as if he 
were carried in invisible arms. He was manipulated with the utmost 
gentleness, declared that his sensations v, ere full of delightful calmness and 
peace, and that he distinctly felt the touch of warm, soft hands lifting him 
up, and at times kindly patting him. One of the merchants present declared 
that what they had witnessed was nothing new, for that he, a resident of 
Athens, and a traveller through the East, had heard of, and in some 
instances beheld, similar marvels enacted in the residences of friends in all 
directions. 

He added, that report had alleged these manifestations to be peculiar to 
females chiefly, and as Eastern etiquette, especially in Turkey, forbade the 
intrusion of foreign gendemen into the sacred precints of female society, 
Mr. Homeland his friends were obliged for some time to be contented 
with the phenomena produced through the agency of the boys before 
alluded to. An opportunity at length occurred, which enabled Mr, Home 
to witness these new marvels under another aspect. 

Having mentioned the facts above narrated to Signor Orsini, an Italian 
gentleman, residing in a beautiful villa on the Bosphorus, Mr. Home, one 
of his Turkish friends, and his little son, the child who had been levitated, 
were courteously invited to visit the Orsini family, amongst whom three of 
the daughters were reputed to have the faculty of making tables or any 
other inanimate objects dance to any tune, or in any time, which they might 
sing or play. Several seances v/ere held with the Orsinis, in which the 
facts above stated were not only verified, but wonders of a far more 
astounding character were displayed. 

On one occasion when the party — fourteen in number — were seated 
around a table, a pencil which had been previously laid on some sheets of 
paper in the centre of the group, rose up of itself, and after some effort as 
it would appear, of an invisible hand to steady it, wrote in bold characters 
the words — "Good evening, friends. Carl Maria Von Weber." The 
pencil then dropped, and no more writing was produced again that evening. 
One of the young ladies, who from special circumstances had the privilege 
of a frequent enirie to the Royal Harem, declared that the ladies of that 
estabhshment amused themselves night after night with these wonderful 
practices, and that it was from them that the daughters of Signor Orsini had 
learned the formulae of sitting round a table with pencils and paper to 
procure Spirit writing 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 423 

Mr. Home's departure from the East terminated for him the privilege of 
attending any more of these weird seances, but he found on returning to 
London that the wonder-working power was more universal than he had 
deemed, for tables not only turned and kept time to tunes in solitary 
instances, but soon began to dance all over London, and that to the 
clarion notes which heralded in modern Spiritualism. 

The following account furnished by Monsieur A. J. Riko, of the Hague, 
will give corroborative details of Mr. Home's narrative of early Spiritualism 
in Turkey. Monsieur Riko says :— - 

" At Constantinople, M. Eepos, a well-known advocate, was for several years a warm 
spiritualist, medium, and zealous defender of the faith of Sijiritualism. 

" About 1860-61, during seances held at his residence, loud rappings, movements, 
writings, trance, and other communications, besides levitations and floating in the air, 
were manifested with remarkable power. 

"T«o young ladies of M. Repos' circle were developed as healing mediums, and 
performed ncany cures. They had a very remarkable drawing medium too, who produced 
life-sized heads without ever having learned drawing ; an-other composed songs and music 
under influence. 

" Mons. P. Vallarie was also a staunch Spiritualist at Constantinople. At his house 
strong physical m mifestations occurred in 1862. When all sat at a distance from the 
table, in an ordinary lighted room, it answered by raps, and even by lifting itself without 
contact, in view of all the assistants. A certain evening a visitor frou] Alexandria, who 
came with a walking stick seen by several of the witnesses, missed his stick at the close 
of the sitting. On arrival at his hotel he found it under his bed covers, in the closed 
room. When he got to bed he was drawn by the spirits at his request halfway out of 
the bed. Another evening the spirits carried off the key of his hotel room from his pocket. 
On coming home he was forced to share the room of a friend. After a while they found 
the key under the candlestick, and on opening his room the gentleman found everything 
out of place ; the bed covers, &c. being thrown in a heap in the middle of the apartment. 
Other similar pranks were often played by the spirits in this gentleman's presence, making 
it evident that he was what is now called a strong physical medium. 

" In May, 1863, an exposjtion of pictures was opened at Constantinople. Among other 
works of art was a picture represeting a fine collection of flowers, which attracted general 
attention by the following inscription : ' Mediumistic drawing executed through M. Paul 
Lombardo, of Constantinople, unacquainted with the arts of drawing and painting.' It 
was one of the productions of a medium then sitting with the circle of M. Repos. Among 
the pictures exhibited none was more generally admired or more eagerly purchased. 

" In the capital of the Turkish empire, like other places, the newspapers were filled 
with controversies about Spiritualism. In March, 1864, the Constantinople journal 
opened its columns for the defenders, and a protest, signed ' The Spiritualists of Con- 
stantinople,' appeared against unworthy attacks " 

In the London Spiritual Magazine of May, i86i, there is another brief 
sketch of Spiritualism in Turkey from the pen of the gentleman named by 
M. Riko, and as it is pertinent to the same seances mentioned above, we 
shall give it in M. Repos's own words. He says : — 

" Constantinople, May 1, 1861. 

" Our experiments become daily more interesting. We hold several seances weekly, 
sometimes at one's house, sometimes at another's. Every day new believers are made. 
Tables rise into the air, and the spirits begin to raise persons. Our most remarkable 
mediums are two young ladies, whom the spirits magnetize direct, and through them they 
play at the piano — duets sometimes — the music being of wonderful harmony. Then we 
have trances, visions, and self -magnetizations, the subjects themselves knowing nothing of 
magnetic science. We cannot make known the subject so much as we would, for these 
young ladies are in a profession which brings them under the influence of the clergy ; and 
the priests among us, as elsewhere, are inimical to Spiritualism. 

" Some of us, from table mediums, have become writing mediums. I am one of these ; 
and, under Spiritual influence, I play music ; I being ignorant of even the notes in my 
ordinary state. I enclose you a piece recently composed through me. The Spirits call 
the air the ' Song to Eternal Love,' 



424 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" One of the spirits of our circle names herself Sophia. At our request she, through 
my hand (though natiu-ally I know not a line of drawing), has executed her portrait. It 
is a fine head, and is admired by all, meeting every requirement of artists to whom it has 
been shown. It has been lithographed by our friend Montani. He is also a medium of 
the highest order. The spirit Sophia has thanked him for his execution of his part of the 
work. At the first opportunity I shall send you a few copies of the portrait bo produced. 

" To tell you what we have obtained in writing is not possible in a letter. I must 
content myself with informing you that Sophia is writing 'The Theory of Spirits,' a 
magnificent work which she commenced a year ago. Other scientific treatises are in 
course of composition — ' The Harmony of Colours,' ' Musical Harmony,' &c. All intended 
to form a compact whole, and showing the direct relation of Spiritualism to external 
things, and through it an ultimate resolution into universal harmony. 

"A spirit of our circle, who is named Angelica, and who is recognised by the other 
spirits as the head of the spiritual manifestations with us, always addresses us in verse. 
She has dictated an Ode to Garibaldi. We forwarded it to him three weeks ago : since 
then she has dictated the words and music of a Hymn to Garibaldi. 

" This spirit spoke prophetically in June, 1860, of Garibaldi in connection with the 
events of Italy. "Three fourths of the prediction are already fulfilled. 

"B. Eepos, Jun." 

It can scarcely be said that there is anything very striking or novel in the 
above details, and were we to enlarge upon them by adding records of 
circles held in Algeria, Alexandria, Cuba, Jamaica, Yeddo, Hong Kong, 
and in many other distant parts of the world where European and 
American civilization prevails, we should simply weary the reader with 
narratives, any score of which would prove representative of every other 
score, in whatever part of the world they might have occurred. 

And here we must be permitted to say that this very circumstance, or the 
fact that the generahty of Spiritual phenomena consist of a series of — 
what the superficial observer would call — the same platitudes, is one of the 
most marvellous features of the entire movement, for it is the one above all 
others which proves that there is a common origin for the manifestations, 
and that thejr appearance and reduplication in various countries, separated 
from each other by distance, varieties of language, religious beliefs, social 
customs, and public interests, proves beyond a doubt that the movement 
cannot have originated in human contrivance, or been propagated by human 
agency. Any natural products, physical changes, atmospheric disturbances, 
or even mental impressions, might be' traceable to mundane causes, pro- 
vided always any mundane conditions were ever known to affect the entire 
surf ace of the globe and all its inhabitants at or about the same time. But 
the phenomena now under consideration, do not come within any of the 
above suggested categorical means of explanation. The power exhibited 
is obviously exerted by some force without, above, or below the mundane 
sphere, and not in or of it. In all authentic cases, it is accompanied by 
intelligence, and in at least half the well-attested instances on record, that 
intelligence transcends the knowledge of the human beings concerned, and 
in every case refers itself to the Spirits of those the world calls " dead." 
When the thoroughly supra-mundane character of the phenomena and the 
inteUigence is considered, and it is remembered that the demonstrations 
occur apparently and spontaneously, at or about the same time in all the 
countries of Europe, all the States of North and South America; in the 
East and West Indies, Australasia and all the centres of civilization in 
Asia and Africa, what candid mind can evade the conclusion that their 
source is one though the manifestations are various, and that this same 
source is at once powerful, intelHgent, and supra-mundane? 

The "demoniacal" theory, so persistently and stupidly alleged by the 
clergy, is almost too silly to combat any further, and is at once put to 



^ 



•^v 



■^- 




M^? Fanny Conant 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



425 



flight by observing that the Spiritual authors of the movement, work for the 
most part for good, truth, religion, and morality, and where unmistakable 
mischief or annoyance is manifest, it never seems to be permitted to cause 
injury to human beings or prove inimical to human life. How different 
this to the conduct of those human fiends whom a corrupt and evil-minded 
condition of society tends to manufacture in our city streets ! So far from 
equalling humanity in cruelty, malevolence, and wickedness, there is not a 
single Spiritual communication ever made, that rivals in malignity the 
Bishop of Santander's savage " anathema," cited in our section on Spanish 
Spirituahsm, whilst the entire history of Spiritualism fails to produce any 
criminal record that can match in magnitude the list of crimes reported in 
a single issue of our London daily journals ! It must be added, that the 
constant use of the term "demons," by the clergy, when they would 
describe the authors of Spiritual manifestations, is merely a 7-use to scare 
the vulgar mind. They strive to make the word odious by associating it 
with " diabolism," when they well know — unless they are too ignorant for 
the position they hold — that it signifies only the souls of dead men, with- 
out reference to moral qualities at all. 

If Spirits are indeed " demons " in the clerical and erroneous sense of 
the term, they are demons in a state of progression, or the souls of bad 
men and women no longer in a condition to work the same evils they 
effected whilst Spirits incarnated in mortal bodies. 

Regarded merely as a matter of testimony, we have no apologies to make 
for the reiteration of phenomena occurring in many lands ; in fact, as 
above stated, it is our best witness for the homogeniety of the power all over 
the world ; for the strictly human character of the Spirits concerned in the 
manifestations ; for the evidence that those Spirits are either in a state of 
progression, or that their power for evil is limited by higher laws than those 
that prevail on earth, and that the whole movement may be looked upon 
as a handwriting on the wall of Ecclesiasticism, in which the world can read 
what the clergy seem to be wilfully blind to — the words " Mene, Mene, 
Tekel, Upharsin." 



CHAPTER LI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA. 
Retrospective. 



It is now about twenty years since the author of these pages received a 
series of communications from some of her most honoured Spirit guides, 
charging upon her to collect from every available source, the materials for 
a compendious and authentic work on the history of Modern Spiritualism. 
Preliminary sketches of what that work was to be, were given from time to 
time, but it was not until the year 1867 that the intention was declared of 
giving to the world a record of the first twenty years of the Spiritual move- 
ment as it had transpired in America. 

To the author's objection that such a record might seem premature, and 
imply the completion of a history still in progress, the communicating 
Spirits answered by urging many reasons for the adoption of their plan. 

Amongst these reasons they alleged that the first twenty years of Spirit- 
ualism in America would complete a special cycle in the movement. 



426 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

During thai period it was said, the work of the Spiritualists would be to 
conduct a stern and unyielding warfare against the world without, to 
revolutionize old ideas, uproot stereotyped errors, and do battle with priest- 
craft and Schoolcraft, ignorance, and bigotry; and at the close of that 
epoch it was asserted, that during the ensuing fifteen years many marked 
changes of a discouraging character would overshadow the cause, but that 
these would proceed chiefly from within, rather than from without the ranks. 
The worst foes of Spiritualism wonld be those of its own household, and the 
cruellest stabs directed against it, would be dealt by the hands of Spiritualists 
themselves. 

Still another fifteen years would be required — said the guides — before the 
first principles of a true science could be evolved. During that period, the 
phenomena of Spirit communion would be silendy yet surely wrested from 
the hands of the spoiler, and its religious teachings be rescued from the 
vagaries of speculative theorists in order to ground it on the rock of immut- 
able and well proven truth. At the close of this third epoch, modern 
Spiritualism would celebrate its year of jubilee, and triumphantly enter 
upon its possession of the promised land, wherein the unity of science and 
religion should be fully demonstrated. "There will be few, if any, of the 
veterans of the old guard" — said the communicating Spirits — "who will 
remain on earth to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of Spiritualism, and the 
marriage day of the long divorced elements which constitute the Bible of 
Creation, namely, religion and science. Like Moses of old, many of 
those who have led the modern Israel through the wildernesses of super- 
stition and ignorance, may be permitted to behold the Spiritual Canaan 
from the far off peaks of distant mountains, but few — if any of them — will 
ever tread its pleasant paths with mortal feet." 

Such were the counsels under which the author was influenced to write 
the history of the first twenty years of " Modern American Spiritualism ; " 
such the continuous guidance by which she has almost completed the 
record of thirty-five years of the Spiritual movement throughout the 
civilized world, and now essays to resume the broken thread of the 
American record. With an earnest prayer that the prophecy of the Spirit 
seers may be as surely fulfilled in the promised day of "jubilee," fifteen 
years hence, as it has been in the night of darkness that has prevailed 
during the past fifteen years, we resume the American Spiritual history 
from the point where it was temporarily suspended by the publication of the 
first twenty years' history.* 

As that work is still in print, and fully accessible to the student, we make 
no apologies for introducing its claims to attention, and commending its 
careful study to those who desire to acquaint themselves with the full sum of 
the American record. 

Now, as in the earlier portions of this work, we remind the reader that 
though fidelity to the integrity of history will oblige the author to point to 
the dark as well as the bright features of the landscape, and uncompromis- 
ingly to adhere to the facts of the narrative whether they tell for or against 
its value to mankind, no prominence will be given to those names that have 
left the stain of human error and corruption on a movement that but for 
them, might have been counted as purely divine. 

None can follow steadfastly the course of this wonderful history without 

* " Modem American Spiritualism," a twenty years' record of the communion between mortals and 
Spirits. Published by Colby and Rich, office of the Batmer of Light, Boston, Massachusetts, TJ.S 
America. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 427 

perceiving that thousands of angular one idead " reformers " (?) have thrust 
themselves into the ranks of Spiritualism, because they perceived that it 
was strong, world-wide, and — as they deemed — popular enough to carry all 
the little hobbies which human pride and egotism desired to harness to its 
mighty car. 

When Spirits first manifested their presence amongst men, their power 
and functions were so little known, that mortals feared to tamper with them, 
or pervert their work to human ends or personal aggrandisement. In 
course of time the awe engendered by the unprecedented character of the 
new movement wore off, and Spiritualism, hke charity, became the con- 
venient cloak which was to cover all the sins which its assumed adherents 
chose to put upon it. When this line of policy failed, an equally profitably 
one opened up in the" trade of "Spiritual exposers." Those who had once 
been in the ranks, of course possessed the knowledge of how to work the 
oracle, and if Spiritualism could not be coined into money and reputation, 
its alleged exposure could, and seeing that the enemies of Spiritualism found 
themselves so constantly baffled by its almost illimitable means of demon- 
stration, these accommodating exposers gladly availed themselves of the 
eagerness with which antagonism clutched even at their contemptible 
agency to destroy the credit or pervert the facts of Spiritualism. And thus, 
this great cause, like many another of the world's purest Messiahs, has been 
lifted up on the cross of martyrdom between the thieves of licentiousness 
and cupidity, and if its quenchless vitality has been again and again mani- 
fested in countless resurrections, it is not for lack of every available effort 
on the part of humanity to sap its integrity by internal corruption, as well 
as by external antagonism. 

As any narrative of events which involve the personal action of the narra- 
tor must to some extent demand the fidelity of autobiographical details, the 
reader must be prepared in the passages which immediately follow, to regard 
with leniency the seeming egotism of personal testimony, and do justice to 
the statements of an actor in the scenes described. 

It was in the year 1871 that the author returned to America from a short 
visit to her native country in company with her beloved life companion, and 
with the addition of "Britten" to her former sobriquet of "Emma Hardinge." 

Mrs. Britten soon realized that which she had long anticipated, namely, 
that what had been entitled the philosophy or doctrine of "social freedom" 
had expanded from an incipient germ to the full maturity of a wide-spread 
movement. As the first promoters of what has been emphatically called 
" Free Loveism" in America, were a concrete order amongst themselves, and 
only incidentally numbered a few Spiritualists in conjunction with persons 
of many other denominations in their ranks, there seemed no just cause 
for associating beliefs and practices as warmly repudiated by many Spirit- 
ualists as by any other class of religionists, with Spiritualism at all. On 
the contrary, as Spiritualism enjoined upon its followers the solemn fact of 
personal responsibility for all human shortcomings in the life hereafter, and 
offered no excuse or evasion for sin, sternly alleging that every soul must 
pay the penalty of its own transgressions, it might have been expected that 
Spiritualists of all other classes of the community, would be the most 
scrupulous of moralists and the first to set the example of purity and virtue 
in thought, word, and deed. 

The monstrous flood of licentious doctrine, often illustrated by mon- 
strous licentiousness of life and conduct, which for a certain period of time 
spread like an evil contagion throughout the United States, and included 



428 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

in its poisonous breathings a certain number of prominent Spiritualists, 
put the above stated propositions to flight in the opinion of the public at 
large, and cast a most unjust and ruinous ill odour over the reputation and 
belief of tens of thousands of innocent persons, who loathed the tendencies 
of the new philosophy all the more, because they were Spiritualists, and as 
such, felt horror and aversion at all that could lower the standard of purity 
in morals or religion. 

To account for the epidemic of madness which ruled the time of which 
we speak, and connected itself so injuriously with the name of Spiritualism, 
it must be stated, that the questions of social evil and hereditary criminality, 
together with the abuses which grow out of ill-assorted marriages, had long 
been the theme of public discussion, and had enlisted many earnest and 
capable minds in the effort to devise reformatory measures of a salutary 
character. 

It was from about 1850 to 1870 that several worthless and licentious 
individuals thrust themselves prominently before the world in the attitude 
of "great reformers," and as some of the iconoclasts who screamed the 
loudest for " social freedom," the abrogation of the marriage law, and the 
subsiitution of licentious will for the restraints of law and order, sought to 
strengthen their case, by the audacious assumption of being inspired by 
"great Spirits," the world eagerly caught at the idea that the whole move- 
ment was the work of Spiritualists, and that the mass of scum and corrup- 
tion that ultimately swept like a desolating wave over the realm of public 
opinion was the instigation of demoniac spirits^ and owed its detestable 
prominence to the action of " the Spiritualists." Reviewing this movement 
not only from the standpoint of bitter experience of the ruin and desola- 
tion it effected, but also from the immense mass of literature — now in the 
author's possession — which recorded the headlong expressions of opinion 
that were put forth by many who were perhaps maddened by the evil spirit 
of the time, we may clearly perceive that there were three distinct parties 
in this ill-omened work, the true nature of which could not be sufficiently 
discerned in the fever of the hour. 

The first of these was a small number of audacious and lawless persons, 
a few of whom were endowed with sufficient ability to make a mark on 
public opinion. This band of would-be revolutionists were ready for any 
change that would bring them into notice, promote their favourite views of 
unbridled licence, and dignify infamy with the specious name of philosophy. 

The author is in actual possession of evidence to show that some of these 
persons were sustained by certain members of the clergy, and by them 
induced to promulgate their atrocious doctrines in the name of Spiritualism, 
and put forth in blatant and unblushing language, the assertion that the 
spirits of once pure women and holy men, were the promulgators of the 
infamies taught in some of their published manifestos. 

The second, and by far the largest class, were earnest, pure minded, and 
often estimable persons, who, having regarded the many evils that afflict 
humanity in its social relations, conscientiously believed that the new move- 
ment — of which they knew but little except by report — was really a 
heaven-born inspiration, designed to reform the wrongs under which society 
laboured. 

The third class, one which included the author of these pages, was 
constituted of persons who, having assured themselves that the tree from 
which the assumed reform was to spring was wholly corrupt, never expected 
it to yield good fruit ; and hence opposed with all the power they were 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 429 

possessed of, the entire movement, and above all, determined to repudiate 
the connection of its name, fame, and teachings with the great Spiritualistic 
movement. With this view, lectures were given, and articles were pub- 
lished, which called forth angry rejoinders and vituperative denunciations. 

Meantime, this unhappy warfare was eagerly fed and stimulated by the 
craft of worldly antagonism. As an evidence of the use which the clergy 
made of the deplorable divisions which this terrible fever of wrong occa- 
sioned in the Spiritual ranks, it may be mentioned, that when the author 
some years after the period under consideration was lecturing in New 
Zealand in her accustomed capacity of a Spiritualistic propagandist, Mr. M. W. 
Green, the minister of the " Christian Disciples" Church of Dunedin — men- 
tioned in our New Zealand section — made the following use of the all-too- 
notorious " Free Love movement." This reverend gentleman collected with 
assiduity a number of printed resolutions in which some of the Spiritualist 
societies who opposed the author's views, denounced her course, and voted 
her steady opposition to associating the titles of *' Spiritualistic" and " Social 
freedom" together, as the result of envy, jealousy, and " desire for rule." 

Constantly tormented with the idea that those who express opinions 
opposed to each other, are prompted by the wish to become " leaders," and 
— to use their favourite expression — " rule or ruin," many Spiritualists in 
the above-named crisis, affected to believe that the author opposed the 
"new philosophy" in the spirit of jealous enmity to its founders, and desire 
for personal leadership. Articles, resolutions, and denunciations to this 
effect were freely circulated at the time, causing unspeakable grief, heart- 
break, and mischief. Regarded now as the effervescence of partisanship, 
and the fever heat of an unseemly contest, they are harmless, and only 
calculated to inspire lessons of moderation and charity. It would be 
impossible to describe the evil use which Mr. M. W. Green sought to make 
of these documents, although none of his listeners could fail to note the 
craft with which he had collected them, and carefully excised every word 
which would serve to represent the other side. 

With due respect to the author's position amongst hosts of influential 
friends, Mr. Green affected to sympathize with the martyrdom Mrs. Britten 
had endured from her "corrupt and infamous associates," and whilst pointing 
" to the 7ioble statid she had taken in withdrawing from them," drew from 
thence the inference that the entire doctrines of Spiritualism were con- 
demned and repudiated by the very individual who was then publicly 
advocating them. It is needless to say that sophistry of so flimsy and one- 
sided a character was not difficult to expose and defeat, but, if it could be 
made available for the purpose of antagonism in after years, it may well be 
supposed that those who at the time when the battle was raging were in 
terrible earnest to put down Spiritualism at any cost, did not fail to make 
effective use of the weapons which Spiritualists thus furnished. 

The author still retains the literature of this unhappy period, and those 
who may deem that even these superficial allusions to the subject are 
exaggerated, may not only inform themselves to the contrary by consulting 
those documents, but would read with astonishment the evidences of cruel 
enmity, bitterness, and fierce antagonism which they display. No candid 
mind could examine the Hterature of this terrible time without coming to 
the conclusion that the same Spirit that lighted the fires of the aiito-da-fe 
and directed the horrible mutilations of the torture chamber in past ages, 
burned just as fiercely in the hearts of humanity at that day, and was just as 
ready to extinguish its foes in moral fires, or torture its enemies by mental 
racks, as it was five hundred years ago. 



430 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

There is one result however growing out of this evil time too remarkable 
to be overlooked. For a while Spiritualism seemed to furnish its foes with 
the very weapons which had hitherto been most wanting. But as strangely 
and suddenly as the warfare had arisen so did it die away. The first 
promoters have sunk into that obscurity to which society inevitably con- 
demns those who would sap the foundations of its law and order. From 
time to time they make spasmodic irruptions into temporary notoriety, but 
their sting has been drawn by experience, and in this generation they will 
hurt no more. 

The true reformers of the second class, whilst realizing their mistake in 
employing impure tools to effect pure objects, still watch and wait for the 
institution of salutary. reforms, when tim*e and means shall be more favour- 
able. Amazed by the mischief and wild licence provoked by what they 
deemed would have been a valuable and philosophic movement, they have 
not abandoned their aim of promoting true social reforms, but they have, 
as many an one has assured the author, learned not to look for roses from 
thisdes, nor to expect to gather fruit from thorns. The most wonderful result 
of all however, and the one which excites most astonishment from all 
classes, is to see how bravely and powerfully Spiritualism has survived the 
blows that have been levelled against it from friends and foes alike. 

The oft-reiterated cry of the clergy, " 'Ware Spiritualism ! It is all free 
love," &c.,- &c., has utterly lost its force, and the steadfast adhesion of 
fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, of famihes living in peaceful 
unity, and characters beyond reproach, seems to have quietly but irrevocably 
drowned the voice of slander, and testified to the utter fallacy of attempting 
to fasten on Spiritualism a stigma which belongs to all classes of individuals, 
but to no special class of scientists or religionists. In a word, the " Free 
Love" scare is ended, and although its foundations are far too deeply rooted 
in the corruptions of society to be destroyed by any exhibition of its 
ugliness, it has been compelled by a power — assuredly not of earth — to stand 
aside, whilst Spiritualism passed by, and shook its skirts free of the 
reproach which never in the remotest sense belonged to the movement, or 
could have grown out of its pure and elevating teachings. 



CHAPTER LII. 



SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED.) 

Physical and Spiritual Conflagrations. 

It was in the winter of the year 1872 that the terrible conflagration ensued, 
which swept over a large portion of the city of Boston, destroying whole 
streets, and desolating the wealthiest and most crowded districts of the city 
proper. 

In the overwhelming ravages of this terrible fire, the premises occupied 
by the oldest Spiritual paper then in existence, the Ba^tner of Light, 
together with all the stock, valuable hbrary, and other property belonging 
to the publishing office were destroyed. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 431 

It is a noteworthy fact that the Religio Philosophical Journal^ of Chicago, 
a paper which occupies in the West the same position as the Banner of Light 
in the East, had also suffered, and that quite recently, in the same 
calamitous way by the ravages of fire. 

When the great north-western city of Chicago was in flames, and the very 
site once occupied by the office of the Religio Philosophical Jourjial wa? 
obliterated, the enterprising proprietor of the paper, Mr. S. S. Jones, 
together with his high-spirited colleague and son-in-law, Colonel Bundy, 
set up their " shingle " — to use a familiar American term for sign — in the 
very midst of the smoking ruins, announcing that the business of the publish- 
ing-house would be carried on as usual — an announcement which was 
actually verified by the issue of the next and following week's papers, which, 
though mere sheets, were sufficient to represent the indomitable spirit of 
the editors, and convey the assurance — since amply fulfilled — of carrying 
the journal forward on its triumphant mission of enlightening the world, in 
all its former fair proportions. 

Scarcely had the gallant Chicago editors resumed work, and the Religio 
Philosophical Jour7ial smiled in the faces of its friends, in a new and hand- 
some dress, than the report of the Boston fires sent a thrill of horror 
through the various Spiritual societies which recognized these two papers 
as the chief standards of their faith. As in the case of the Western fires, 
the Spiritualists soon began to rally from the shock of this new calamity, 
and once more testified their high appreciation of the work performed by 
their well-tried organ, by pouring in contributions with unstinted liberality. 
The steadfast energy which enabled the citizens of Boston to rise above 
their great losses, and phcenix-like to erect a new and far more beautiful 
city amidst the still smouldering vestiges of devastation, seemed to be fully 
emulated — if it were not actually led — by the resolute publishers of the 
Barmer of Light, for their work was resumed before it could be missed, and 
very soon, large and commodious offices were estabhshed at No. 9, Mont- 
gomery Place, Tremont Street, in which locality the Banner and its pub- 
lishers have organized headquarters of a satisfactory and permanent 
character. 

It was some six months before the date of the Boston fires that the 
author became associated with a few ladies and gentlemen, residents like 
herself of that city, in the publication of a new monthly Spiritual magazine 
entitled, The Western Star. 

The motives which impelled this publication and the basis on which it 
was founded, may be best understood by a perusal of the following extracts 
from the prospectus, in which it was said : — 

" The principal features aimed at in this undertaking are : — First. To present the 
matter contained in each number in such form and size that any or all the articles can be 
preserved and bound in ordinary Library volumes . Secondly. To establish a record of 
the deeply momentous events connected with modern SpuituaHsm, and to gather up and 
preserve such material as cannot be included in the columns of the weekly journals 
devoted to Spiritualism. Thirdly. To ojjen up opportunities for a free and fraternal 
interchange of facts and opinions with the Spiritualists of foreign countries. Fourthly. 
To treat all topics of current interest from a purely Spirituahstic stand-point. 

In each succeeding number of The Western Star, a summary of passing 
events in the Spiritual arena, both at home and abroad, was given, under 
the caption of The Garland, and as this record was designed to carry 
forward the historical thread of American Spiritual history from the point 
where it was interrupted in the publication of the author's twenty years' 



432 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

record, it may not be out of place to quote a few such extracts as will renew 
the memory of those who formerly constituted the dramatis personos of the 
great American Spiritual movement : — 

" The anniversary festivities of this season were less universally observed and largely 
attended than at the celebrations of four years ago. The most interesting meetings have 
been held at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, 
Waukegan, Vineland (graced by the presence of A. J. Davis) and Terra Haute, presided 
over by the Hon. R. D. Owen 

" The Boston anniversary was chiefly remarkable for the appearance on the Spiritual 
rostrum of Mrs. Conant, the inspired medium of the Banner of Light communications, 
and Professor Denton, the veteran war-horse of scientific theology. The Spiritualists of 
Terre Haute were favoured by the presence of Hon. Robert Dale Owen, whose anniversary 
address was a masterpiece of logical oratory 

" The Binghampton Daily Republican reports the doings of a negro, whom the editor 
graphically describes as "a black salamander." This man is said to walk on and handle 
red-hot iron plates with, as much impunity as other persons touch the green turf. The 
Republican gives the following item as the account rendered by the man himself, of his 
own phenomenal gifts : — 

' Coleman says that he is no worldly man. Once, while walking in the woods, near the 
Natural Bridge in Virginia, meditating upon the greatness of the Supreme Being, a small 
still voice spoke to him from above, saying : " Now will I show this unbeUeving age a 
miration ! I caused Shadrach, Meshac, and Abed-nego to walk through the fiery furnace 
and I will give you the power to walk on hot iron. 

' Coleman thought the voice was trying to get him into a muss, and he had much 
hesitancy about trying any experiments to test the reality of the " miration," but he 
finally ventured upon hot pigs of iron from a furnace, and unlike unbelieving Peter, he 
did not sink.' 

" The Religio- Philosophical Journal reports that a veritable case of a spirit portrait 
appearing spontaneously on a pane of window glass, has occured in Virginia City, Nevada. 
Various other new developments are reported from different parts of the United States, 
amongst them the advent of a little trance medium of six years old, who resides in the 
City of Cincinnati, and who, for the last seven months, every night on going to bid her 
father and mother good-night, has been suddenly entranced, and delivered ' poetic ser- 
mons,' which, as her father asserts, for sublimity and piety, he has never heard excelled. 
This little lady is a seeing medium, also, arid frequently pauses in her work, play, or 
studies, to describe ' the angels ' whom she sees in the air. These descriptions have, in 
every instance, been recognised as applying to some deceased person 

" Mr. Thomas McGinn, writing from St. Louis, details a case of singular persecution 
on the part of a ' talking spirit,' who persists in following about his little girl Rosa, aged 
ten years, and in her presence, but not through her organs, uttering profane and some- 
times pious language, purporting to come from a negro who was formerly a slave in his 
family, of imbecile mind and habits of speaking exactly similar to the words which are 
heard in the presence of the child. 

" Mr. McGinn adds, like our Cincinnati correspondent, that though they communicate 
these facts for the benefit of Spiritual science, they are unwilling to call the attention of 
the public to their little mediums, rationally fearing the effect which crowds of hetero- 
geneous minds may have upon their tender youth and susceptible organisms. 

" In the realm of spirit art, the veteran mediums already before the public are making 
steady advances. The most satisfactory accounts are given of pictures produced through 
the mediumship of Mrs. Blair, N. B. Starr, Wm. Mumler, WilUs, of Indiana, and others, 
whose gifts lie in that peculiar direction. 

" The Davenport Brothers have been exposed again for the hundredth time, and for the 
hundredth time the esposers have been proved to be themselves the humbugs. 

" A long and brilliant list of speaking mediums report their good work and indefa- 
tigable labours through the columns of the Spiritual papers. Thomas Gales Forster, one 
of the earliest and most esteemed for high Spiritual endowments, has accepted a call to 
occupy the New York platform for one year, commencing from last January. 

" Mrs. Nellie T. Brigham occupies the Spiritual rostrum at Hartford for the same 
period of time. J. M. Peebles has been established at Troy, N.Y., and the general ten- 
dency to a more stable and permanent order of things amongst the committees having 
charge of the Spiritual rostrums, is everywhere becoming more and more apparent. . . . 

" Several publications of value have been added to the repertoire of Spiritual literature 
quite recently. The most remarkable of these are Hon. Robert Dale Owen's 'Debatable 
Land ; ' ' The Spiritual Pilgrim,' by J. M. Peebles; ' ' Looking Beyond,' by J. 0. Barrett ; 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 433 

and 'Flashes of Light from the Spirit Land,' a collection of communications given 
through the mediumship of Mrs. J. H. Conant, the celebrated medium for the Banner of 
Light circles. Mean time, the columns of the Spiritual periodicals are ghttering with a 
long list of works comprising tracts, essays, poems, and treatises, from A. J. Davis, Lizzie 
Doten, Prof. Denton, Maria King, Hudson Tuttle, Emma Hardinge Britten, G. L. Ditson, 
etc., that would reflect lustre on any set of special people and special thinkers 

" A German Spiritual paper, of high Hterary tone, has recently been established in 
Washington, by Dr. Schiicking, entitled The Round Table. The brilhant ability of its 
editor, and the splendid staff of contributers who grace its columns, are sufficient guarantee 
for its superior merits." .... 

" August, 1872. — " Since our last issue we have received from England, through a 
private source, a package of what purports to be photographs of spirits, taken through the 
mediumship of a photographer of London, and a request accompanies the package, that 
the editors, 'having had the advantage of American experience in such pictures,' would 
furnish their European readers with some opinions thereon. With this request we are 
unable to comply, seeing that our American experiences furnish us with nothing that 
bears the least similarity to the pictures received. Some of them are placed directly at 
the side of the sitters, and present an appearance strictly human, and except the fact 
that they are for the most part veiled, and bear a striking resemblance to one uncomely 
model, there is nothing. to distinguish them from an ordinary attempt to represent two 
figures on the same plate. In a review of the subject in the British JoumaPof Photograghy, 
dated May 24th, 1872, we find the following remarks : " — 

" ' We confess to a feeling of surprise how any photographer could be so blinded as not 
to see that such productions would be certain to provoke a perfect storm of hostile 
criticism, for more reckless indifference to the necessity for removing those features from 
which photographers of ordinary intelligence were certain to deduce imposture, we have 
never seen.' 

" Cordially endorsing the above sentiment, and being unacquainted with any facts 
which might modify such an opinion, we should here close our remarks on the subject, 
did we not observe a tendency in the European Spiritual periodicals to associate these 
pictures with those of Mr. Wm. Mumler of Boston, Mass, a photographer of spiritual 
forms, whose mediumship has come out triumphantly through the most severe crucial 
tests that were ever applied to any of the alleged Spiritual phenomena. 

" Our space does not allow us to go into details, but it is but justice to Mr. Mumler to 
remind our readers that the best proof that can be brought forward of a genuine character 
in spirit photography, is that which so especially distinguishes his pictures : namely, that 
hundreds of them have been recognised as portraits of deceased persons, and that by 
strangers visiting Mr. Mumler's studio for the first time. During Mr. Mumler's trial in 
New York, and all through the bitter persecution which antagonism to his remarkable 
gift called forth, a perfect cloud of witnesses, including many of the most respectable and 
veracious persons in America, came forward to bear testimony to the fact, that they had 
received correct, and clearly defined portraits of their departed friends, and that, when 
the medium could not have any knowledge of them. 

" Another specialty in the Boston pictures, and one which often occurs is, that some 
portion of the shadowy spirit form is seen behind, and another part in front of the sitter. 
Take, for instance, the splendidly developed picture of Beethoven as a spirit, standing 
behind Emma Hardinge Britten, enclosing her with shadowy arms, and placing before 
her a small lyre wreathed with flowers. This visionary looking lyre is actually seen, as if 
under the lady's watch chain. Her dress is visible too, through the shadowy arms in 
front of her, whilst the noble-looking form and head stands clearly erect behind her. 

" The last great sensation in English Spiritualism has been the course of spiritual 
lectures delivered by the renowned poet, Gerald Massey, at St. George's Hall, London. 
Mr. Massey acted as chairmfc af the splendid conversazione convened to bid farewell and 
present a noble testimonial to Emma hardinge Britten, on her departure from England 
to America, last fall. Gerald Massey's appearance in such a scene and situation, 
surrounded by the noblesse of the land, and supported by a crowd of eminent scientists, 
literati, and leading men and women, fell like a thunderbolt upon the gaping toadies who 
are so eager to echo the question, ' What great ones of earth believe in Spiritualism ? ' 
But that Mr. Massey should follow up this debut by a course of Spiritual lectures has 
been almost as much of a blow to the fossilized leaders of royal associations for the con- 
servation of opinions and the exclusion of ideas, as to see Professors Wallace, Varley, and 
Grookes putting on the whole armour of Spiritual faith, and publicly advocating its truth.' 

September, 1872. — After excising all the American notices of the 
September month's " Garland," which are only of personal and temporary 
28 



434 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

interest, we find the following extract from the Cincitinati Commercial of 
July 20 registered as "from an esteemed correspondent" : — 

"Mrs. Hollis,* wife of Capt. E. J. HoUis, of Louisville, Ky., says the correspondent, 
visited his residence several weeks ago, and stances of a remarkable character took place, 
the manifestations at which he described in a series of letters to the Commercial. He 
invited a large number of people to view them, his visitors being representatives from the 
most refined circles in the social life of Cincinnati, several holding high official positions. 
The most remarkable manifestations occurring during her first visit were, slate-writing 
in the light, of which the narrator says, ' Hundreds of communications have been written 
in my presence, in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Italian, French, Welch, and English ; 
the showing of spirit hands — from three to five materialized hands being seen at one 
time, in a room sufficiently light to read in ; and the hearing of audible spirit voices. In 
proof of this latter phase the writer avers that his mother spoke to him in a strongly 
defined voice : — ' If that voice had simply pronounced my name, I should have fixed it 
as my mother's. It is only four years since I heard it from her mortal lips. I know it 
was the voice of my mother.' Again it is said ; — ' The table upon which the music-box 
was placed stood about ten feet from the cabinet door. After winding it up, I was turn- 
ing to resume my seat in the circle, in doing which I faced the aperture in the cabinet, 
when to my utter surprise, / beheld my mother's face at the opening. ' Why, mother,' I 
exclaimed, ' is it possible ?' She smiled, spoke my name, and retired. The materialization 
continued for the space of ten or fifteen seconds. All in the room saw the dear face, the 
Quaker cap, and heard the name pronounced. I was within two feet of the aperture, 
and others not ten feet off. Not doubting her identity, still I said, ' Mother, dear, can 
you materialize your left hand, and show it at the ajjerture ?' In less than a minute the 
left hand was presented for my inspection. I was close to it. Th^ forefinger was perma- 
nently closed by contraction of the tendon, from a burn received in childhood. The hand 
presented had the same peculiarity. The faces of ' Jimmy Nolan,' and those purporting 
to be Ney and Josephine, together with several unrecognised spirits, were shown at the 
cabinet aperture. In dark stances, held by direction, Mrs. Hollis was frequently carried 
over the heads of the party present ; and on one occasion, being provided with a pencil, 
traced the course of her aerial journey along the ceiling — the walls having previously 
been examined, and no pencil-marks found thereon — the lead being worn down, and the 
hand of the medium covered with lime-dust by the operation." 

October,^ 1872. — Besides noticing the suspension of two Spiritual papers, 
T^e American Spiritualist and Lyceum Banner, the writer of the " Garland" 
adds : — 

" The Religio Philosophical Journal gives several interesting descriptions of the circles 
held in Chicago, for physical manifestations. The most candid and intelligent of these 
reports, are from the pen of Mrs. Annie Lord Chamberlain, herseK one of the most gifted 
physical mediums in the world, and one whose generous recognition of the merits of 
others speaks more loudly for the nobility of soul which inspires her than all the lauda- 
tions which could be pronounced upon her. Some of Mrs. Chamberlain's facts are in 
advance even of the experiences of those most familiar with the power of the invisible 
world ; for example, she reports that the spirits who keep watch and ward over the 
wonderful Bangs family, have ministered to the good mother in her domestic duties, 
laying her cloth, preparing her meals when indisposed, and then serving up the 
various condiments, cooked in the most approved fasluon. 

" One of the most interesting reports of Chicago Spiritualism, gives a detailed account 
of a siance with Mrs. Maud Lord, during which the reporter of the Chicago Tribune, three 
other members of the editorial staff, and a Baptist minister were present. Besides the 
display of lights, the sound of voices, demonstrations of spirit music, and the usual con- 
comitants of a dark circle, several of the witnesses (including the Tribune reporter, who 
testifies of the fact in the Tribune) were favoured by the clasp of spirit hands which came 
and melted, formed again, and again melted in the grasp of the narrators, giving tests of 
spiritual agency, which put the theories of stuffed gloves or mediumistic trickery out of 
the pale of possibility. Manifestations of a similar kind are increasing on every side. It 
is scarcely possible to note how numerous and forcible are the proofs which crowd the 
columns of the Spiritual papers throughout the American continent. Like the miracles 
witnessed by St. Augustine, 'they are so common that they are hardly worth recording.' 

* Now Mrs. Billings, the well-known and admired physical medium, of New York. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 435 

"December, 1872. — The Boston Music Hall free meetings were inaugurated the 
first Sunday in October, by a lecture from Miss Lizzie Doten, whose high reputation as a 
poetess and inspirational speaker gained more in this one splendid discourse than by any 
of her previous fine efforts. 

" Her subject was the ' Celestial Alphabet,' or a description of the immutable fidelity 
with which nature's language is represented in creation, and the laws which underHe all 
her forms and forces 

" Physical maaifestations seem to be gaining in power with each returning day. Mrs, 
Britten's chapter on physical demonstrations m ikes mention of a Mrs. Libby White, of 
Sodus Point, N. Y. In the narrative of that lady's mediumship several novel phenomena 
are described 

" Not only are spirit faces and forms seen, and that in a lighted room, but visitors 
have the privMege of shaking hands with their beloved spiritual visitants, whilst warm 
kisses are pressed on their brows, and kind words of greeting are interchanged as in the 
days of mortal communion 

" From Moravia, New York, Boston, Chicago, and every section of the land, media 
like Dr. Slade, Mrs. Andrews, the Bings family, Annie Lord Chamberlain, Jennie Webb, 
Maud Lord, Mrs. Hollis, iVIr. Charles Foster, and hosts of others, eliminate through their 
mediumship more marvels in ten minutes than scientists could explain in ten years ; and 
yet one of the representative men of the 'scientific' ranks complains that ' for his part 
he never can see anything in Spiritualism worthy of investigation or notice.' 

" This great transatlantic luminary seems to be well up in the nature and properties of 
metals. We wonder how he would explain the action of iron under the following 
circumstances. 

" The Religio Philosophical Journal, giving a description of Captain Winslow, a new 
physical medium, writes as follows : — ' We had the pleasure, a few evenings since, of 
attending a seance, at which Captain Winslow was the medium. The manifestations 
were very fine. 07ie very remarkable feat is the union of two solid iron rings, leaving them 
thus interlinlced, and yet the metal perfectly sound.' 

" Something of a scene occurred in Chicago a few days ago, when Mrs. Sawyer, a 
physical force medium, of that city, was summoned to appear before Mayor Medill, to 
show cause why she should not be taxed and compelled to pay a license, like other 
' exhibitors and vendors of wares ;' indeed, the mayor seemed to think the payment of a 
one hundred and twenty dollar license was only due to the city authorities for the 
privilege of allowing mourners to converse with their ' dead,' or the exercise of the gifts 
which the founder of the Christian religion charged upon Mayor Medill, in common with 
all his other followers. How the Spiritualists resisted and acted upon this demand may 
be gathered from a report in the Chicago Times, of which the following is an extract : — 

" ' A day or two since a medium named Mrs. Sawyer was brought before the mayor, 
and warned by that gentleman that if she did not take out a license she would be 
arrested. Mr. J. E. Hoyt, of No. 341, West Madison Street, was present, and declared he 
would continue his seances, his sweet communings with angel land, despite the mayor or 
his staS". Last night was the first occasion on which a stated seance has taken place since 
the mayor gave his warning. There was considerable excitement over the question 
whether the mayor would seek to carry out his threat, but the seance proceeded as usual, 
and no blue coat made his appearance. The spirits that manifested themselves were in 
great good humour, and seemed to be as little afraid of Mr. Medill as the temperance 
committee or the Spiritualists are of his logic' 

" The Massachusetts Supreme Court has given the ignorant and unprogressive officials 
of Chicago a good illustration of the advanced condition of public opinion on the subject 
of Spirituahsm in the "Athens of America," as the following excerpt from the Banner of 
Light will show. 

'"a right decision. 

" ' The Supreme Court of Massachusetts has reached a just decision in the case of Mrs. 
A- J. Feital, who had recovered five thousand dollars damages from the Middlesex Horse 
Railroad Company, in requital of injuries received while on the cars of that company on 
a certain Sunday, returning from a Spiritualist open-air meeting at Maiden. The 
company contested her claim on the ground that they were not responsible for damages 
received at their hands on Sunday, the contract on that day with passengers being illegal. 
It further maintained that a Spiritualist meeting wa,s in no sense religious, and therefore 
that the plaintiff had no good ground for even a Sunday case. 

" ' It was bold, if not worse, ground for a public corporation to assume in its defence ; 
and having been assessed in five thousand dollars damages, the Middlesex Company 
thought they would resist to the last rather than pay the amount. Hence the hearing 
before the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth. But justice was not to be thus ba£0[ed. 



436 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

An appeal to its highest seat only brought out its voice with the utmost possible authority. 
The Supreme Court has decided that the company was obligated to carry the plaintiff, 
and indeed all other passengers, with as much care on Sunday as on any other day ; and 
also that a meeting of Spiritualists is as much a religious meeting for such as subscribe 
to Spiritualism, a^ any called orthodox.' " ! ! ! 

With the above extract there falls from the editor's palsied hand the last 
" Garland" that was ever woven from the blossoms of Spiritual truth for the 
pages of The Western Star. The relentless action of the Boston fires swept 
off amongst other ravages the warehouses and property not only of the 
parties who stood related to The Western Star as its proprietors and financial 
guarantors, but also reduced to temporary ruin a large number of its past 
and prospective subscribers. In this crisis the author issued a circular 
notice, the following extracts from which will speak for themselves : — 

* 'special notice. — THE BOSTON FIRES AND TH[E INEVITABLE SUSPENSION 
OF *THE WESTERN STAR.'" 

" It is with the deepest regret that I am compelled to announce to the friends and 
patrons of this magazine the urgent necessity of suspending its publication, — at least for 
the present, — in consequence of the heavy losses incurred by its financial supporters in 
the late calamitous Boston fires. ' 

" As it could not be expected that a new and wholly experimental work could secure a 
subscription list adequate to its support for the first few months, the actual expenses were 
guaranteed by the payment of certain sums as shares, with a promise that any deficit 
which might remain at the end of the year should be provided for by parties interested 
in the enterprise 

" Although I have refrained from publishing any of the highly laudatory letters I have 
received in commendation of this magazine, they have been so numerous and flattering 
that I could not question but that a steady increase in the subscription list, would have left 
it at the end of the year on a firm and well established foundation, but pending a climax 
which I could only hope to arrive at as a process of growth, all my resources and those of 
my friends and supporters are swept away by the overwhelming losses accruing from the 
Boston fires. 

" My shareholders' and guarantors' property have alike been destroyed. 

" I cannot add to their heavy losses by pressing my claims, small though they seem in 
comparison ; and a large number of my books have also been destroyed. 

" Considerable sums due on the sale of magazines cannot now be collected from 
creditors more distressed than myself. The superior claims of The Banner of Light, for 
so many years the justly esteemed standard of the Eastern Spiritualists' faith, now crushed 
into overwhelming ruin, render all minor claims on the Spiritualists for aid, insignificant 
and almost unworthy. 

" My own resources have been drained to support this (to me) noble labour of love 
until nothing more is left to give. I have bestowed all my time, night and day, health, 
rest, ceaseless energy, and every available dollar on the work ; and though I deem the 
high eulogies that have been passed upon it a meed worth labouring for, these have been 
the sole recompense I have derived. I can scarcely deem that any one will read this frank 
and straightforward statement and yet attribute blame, incompetency, or lack of faith to 
me when I say the work must now — for the present at least — suspend " 

The next step in the great Spirituahstic movement which claims attention 
was the first openly recognized dawning of a movement which has generally 
obtained the name of " Occultism," although in reality that term — as now 
understood — perverts rather than interprets its true significance, or that 
which it at first promised to unfold. 

Mrs. Britten had changed her place of residence after the suspension of 
The Western Star from Boston to New York, and in that city occupied 
herself in translating and editing a work, since widely known, under the 
title of "Art Magic." The author of this book, being a life-long and highly- 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 437 

honoured friend of Mrs. Britten's, but — as a foreigner — not qualified to 
produce a work in the English language, had induced Mrs, Britten to 
undertake the task of preparing it for the press. Amongst other conditions 
which this gentleman insisted on, before he would consent to publish his 
book, was the stipulation that the real author should remain unknown, also 
that the circulation should be so limited as merely to pay expenses, and 
so prevent his recondite work from falling into the hands of such hetero- 
geneous readers, as he felt confident would misunderstand, or perhaps 
pervert its aims to evil uses. 

One of the features of this work was indicated in its second title, namely, 
" Mundane, Sub-mundane, and Super-mundane Spiritualism." It professed 
to explain the origin of creation ; of all religious systems ; tracing them out 
from Solar and Sex worship to sects and modern creeds. It defined the 
Occultist's belief in Snb-mu7idane or Elementary Spirits ; in Super-mundane 
or Planetary Spirits, and ranged between them, the realm of humanity with 
its spheres of communicating human Spirits, revealed through the order 
of Nature and Providence in the beneficent Spiritual outpouring of the 
nineteenth century. A few examples of ancient, mediaeval, and present 
day Oriental magic were given, not as subjects for imitation, but rather as 
warnings of what to avoid, and in striking contrast to the naturalness and 
order of the modern Spiritual methods of communion. 

As the mechanical details of the publication were likely to be very costly, 
and the limited circulation rendered it un remunerative, the editor (Mrs. 
Britten) sent out preliminary notices inviting subscriptions, to which nearly 
four thousand answers were sent in, from different parts of the world. As 
the circulation was not to exceed a few hundreds, with the addition of a 
certain number of copies to be prepared as equivalent for losses, &c., it 
might have been hoped that there was little scope for blame or reproach, 
singular as the undertaking might have appeared to those who knew 
nothing of " Occultism." 

Far otherwise however were the results. From the first day when the 
preliminary notices were issued, the author's motives were assailed by a 
veritable storm of misrepresentation and insult. Articles, prints, and 
tracts were circulated to warn the public against patronizing the intended 
work. The unwary were assured it was *' a plot of Jesuits," and nothing 
less than " a cunning conspiracy to uproot Spiritualism, and place Catho- 
licism, witchcraft, magic, and diablerie in general, in its place. It would be 
almost humiliating to recall the folly and absurdity exhibited by the attack- 
ing party. 

Never in the course of a long career of devotion to the service of 
humanity, had the author witnessed such a rain of illogical and causeless 
persecution ; never had she expected to be requited for such service, after 
such a fashion. And all this while, it must be remembered, the book was 
yet unpublished, and except by its author, editor, and a few private friends, not 
a line of its MSS. was known, or had ever met the eye of a single creature 
that denounced it ! It seems to have been the facts that the author insisted 
on remaining anonymous, wrote on subjects of which the attacking parties 
were ignorant, and hmited his circulation to " a worthy few," which excited 
the wrath of the belligerents, unless indeed a certain number gladly availed 
themselves of this opportunity to retaliate upon Mrs. Britten, the opposi- 
tion they had endured from her, on the subject of the infamous "Social 
freedom " doctrine. 

Meantime it would be ungrateful indeed not to acknowledge, that there 



438 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

was another side to this curious warfare. Those who had personally known, 
and hundreds of others who had followed Mrs. Britten during her long 
public career, poured in upon her the most cordial and generous assurances 
of confidence. Unlimited promises of support and offers of assistance also 
were volunteered from countless sources. When at length the object of 
this remarkable warfare was produced, its owners as a genjeral rule had 
scarcely completed its perusal ere they poured in upon the much-abused 
editor, letters of the highest eulogy and thankfulness. The receipt of those 
letters, and the fact that several hundred of such are now in the edittsr's 
possession, have more than compensated her for the birthpangs through 
which this highly-lauded and greatly-abused volume was produced. 
Amongst other illustrious European potentates who sought and, in some 
instances only, succeeded in obtaining possession of this book, were the 
late unfortunate Czar of Russia and his noble aide-de-camp, the much- 
beloved friend of Spiritualism, Prince Emil de Sayn Wittgenstein. These 
gentlemen were amongst the first European subscribers who applied for 
" Art Magic," and Mrs. Britten rejoices in the possession of autograph 
letters from them, not only thanking her for being the instrument of pub- 
lishing " so glorious a work," but adding commendatory notices of too 
personal a character to transcribe in this place. 

Prince Emil Wittgenstein, who was one of the Russian Emperor's 
lieutenant generals in the late unhappy Turkish war, wrote to Mrs. Britten 
that he regarded that book as his " bible," carried it with him wherever he 
went, and had " often derived consolation and harmony of spirit from its 
noble teachings in moments embittered by the fever of war, and the cares 
of State." Many similar tokens of admiration from some of the best minds 
of the age, soon sufficed to wipe out the stains of mud hurled against the 
publication by those who knew not what they did, or whom they denouticed. 

Had this episode been of the purely personal character hitherto detailed, 
it would have found no place here, except indeed to demonstrate the fact 
that many of those who call themselves Spiritualtists, and claim to be " the 
friends of progress," have not outgrown the spirit of ancient bigotry, and 
are \ ust as ready to put those who dififer with them to moral death or 
Spiritual torture as if they were the most zealous adherents of orthodox 
creeds. The publication of "Art Magic" synchronizes so closely in point 
of time with the first awakening interest manifested in occult subjects and 
especially with the foundation of the celebrated " Theosophical Society," of 
which the author was one of the first members, that it becomes an act of 
justice due to both subjects, to show, that they were totally unrelated, and 
that the impression which seems to have prevailed to the contrary, simply 
arose from the fact that "Art Magic" was published about the time when 
the Theosophical Society was founded. As there were many persons who 
— when "Art Magic" was published and the "Theosophical Society" 
formed — without having the smalle-st knowledge of the facts, rushed into 
print to explain to others what they did not understand themselves, and 
especially to show, that the authors in both cases were combined, and both 
in a conspiracy to sweep Spiritualism out of existence, and substitute for 
it Jesuitism, and the black art, Mrs. Britten was often compelled to answer 
these wild and far-fetched attacks by counter statements, one specimen at 
least of which will do more to enlighten the reader on the true state of the 
case than all that the lying tongue of rumour could disclose. The. article 
which follows, was printed in the Boston Spiritual Scientist, and is prefaced 
by the following editorial remarks : — 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 439 

"'art magic' 

Emma Habdinge Britten replies to the important caution issued by Dr. B- 



against the proposed work on " art magic," advertised in another column of this paper. 
His insinuations, concerning the unknown author, and also the other objections urged by 
him, are ably answered. She says : — 

" ' If the Spiritualists think they know everything that is to be known, of course they 
need to hear or to read no more. For the few who think with me that we need " light, 
more light " ; to those who are not satisfied that twenty-five years of communion with 
our beloved ones gone before has explained all of the twenty-five thousand years of life 
that has gone behind, nor yet exhausted the fountains of revelation on all spiritualistic 
subjects that may unfold themselves in the future, I say, press on ! search on ! and take 
the very Kingdom of Heaven by violence, sooner than sit down in the apathetic rust of 
"I know enough !" . . . 

" ' To all whom it may concern, but in strict justice to Col. Olcott, Madame Blavatsky, 
and any who may unwittingly be confounded with this matter, I emphatically protest 
that they have nothing whatever to do with it. That the two movements, namely, the 
publication of my friend's advertisement and the formation of the Theosophical Society, 
most strangely took place at or about the same time, in fact, within twenty -four hours of 
each other, is a truth which I admit, but cannot account for. 

" ' About twelve hours after I had posted the advertisement to the Banner of Light, 
announcing that a book on "Art Magic," &c., was to be published. Col. Olcott and I met 
for the first time in several years. An old acquaintance was renewed, an introduction to 
Madame Blavatsky took place, and then, but not till then, did I learn the views of these 
friends, respecting a concerted effort to study faithfully the science which underlies the 
principles of spirit-communion. So amazed and struck was I with the coincidence of 
pv/rposes expressed in the inauguration of the " Theosophical Society," at which I was 
present, with some of the ideas, put forth in my friend's work, that I felt it to be my 
duty to write to the President of that Society, enclose a copy of the advertisement, and 
explain to him that the publication of the book in question anticipated, without concert 
of action or even personal acquaintance with the parties concerned, whatever of Cabalistic 
lore or revelation the said "Theosophical Society" might hereafter evolve. Whilst my 
Theosophical friends and myself have both been greatly struck with the remarkable 
coincidence of the two movements, chiming in at precisely the same stroke of the dial 
from points of action removed from and at the same time unknown to each other, we 
neither desire to damage the work of the other by being mistaken for or confounded 
together. The author of "Art Magic" prepared the material for his work many years 
ago in Europe, and is a total stranger to Col. Olcott or Madame Blavatsky. Praise or 
blame us all not for each other's sake, but for our own.' " 

At this point it may be necessary to explain that the Spiritual Scientist., in 
which the above letter appeared, was a most excellent and scholarly paper 
published in Boston by Mr. E. Gerry Brown, and although this gentleman 
never espoused in especial the views of the " Occultists," his unconservative 
columns were ever open to all who had truths to tell, wrongs to right, or 
information to impart. It was in this generous spirit, that Mr. Brown 
reprinted from the columns of the Banner of Light, a letter from Colonel 
Olcott in answer to the many absurd tirades that were levelled against him 
as President of the Theosophical Society on the subject of " Occulti.sm." 
Like the Spiritual Scientist, the editors of the Banner had, without ever 
writing a word in favour of Occultism, generously opened their columns to 
both sides of the question ; a magnanimous line of conduct which warmly 
commends itself to the imitation of all seekers for truth. Colonel Olcott 
says ; — 

'' Occultism is something that can be tested and proven by all ' competent ' persons, 
and is not a mere tangle of assertions and theories 

" Do you want me to name over the authors who corroborate my statement ? It 
would nearly fill every column of this issue of the Banner. Do you complain that I have 
given the public no proofs of the existence of elementary spirits, and their subjection to 
human control ? I could occupy your paper a whole year without exhausting the acces- 
sible supply of anecdotes. If you want a perfect reservoir of authenticated cases of 



440 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

magic, read Des Mousseaux's series of volumes in the French language. If you wish to 
know what the Chinese and Thibetan thaumaturgic priests perform, read Hue and 
Schlangentweit. If you would know of the power of man to change his corporeal form 
and assume whatever shape he chooses, read the memoirs of Simon Magus (who is men- 
tioned by St. Luke), and of ApoUonius ; read Pierre Manor's treatise against the 
sorcerers ; Henry de Coulogue's ' De Lamoeis ; ' the ' Vie des Peres du Desert ; ' read the 
stories of magic and sorcery brought back from Mexico and Central America by M. 
Brasseur de Bourbourg ; read about the occultism of the ancient Peruvians, in Prescott 
and Tscuddi. If you wish evidence of ancient occulist practices, read Pausanias, Plato, 
Cicero, lamblichus, Tacitus, Herodotus, Manetho, Sanchoniaton, the Sohar, and the 

Egyptian and Jewish Kabbalas 

" Says Eliphas Levi — ' There is a true and a false science, a divine magic and an 
infernal magic. The magician must be distinguished from the sorcerer, the adept from 
the charlatan. The magician disposes of a force that he knows, the sorcerer endeavours 
to abuse that of which he is ignorant. The ' devil ' submits to the magician ; the 
sorcerer gives himself up to the devil. The magician is the sovereign pontiff of Nature ; 
the sorcerer only its profaner. Magic is the traditional science of the secrets of Nature, 
which came to us from the Magi.' 

In view of the statements concerning the character and identity of the 
communicating Spirits of the new dispensation, as defined in that number 
of the Theosophist quoted in our section on India, the reader's attention is 
particularly called to the ensuing paragraph of Colonel Olcott's letter : — 

" Occultism does not rob Spiritualism of one of the comforting features, nor abate one jot 
of its importance as an argument for immortality. It denies the identity of no real human 
spirit that ever has or ever will approach an inquirer* It simply shows that we are liable 
to the visits, often the influence, and sometimes the absolute control, of a class of 
invisible but very powerful spirits, whose existence I am the first of American spiritual- 
istic investigators to warn the sect against. Its philosophy clashes in no sense against the 
basic discoveries of modern science, but, on the contrary, rounds out and completes what 
without it is a crude magma of the Known and the Unknowable. It completes the 
demonstration of the law of evolution, and supplies the link that has hitherto been 
missing from the chain that our philosophical contemporaries have, with so much patience, 
constructed. Its mission as regards Spiritualism, is to filter, purge, classify, and explain, 
not to play the part of the iconoclast or the Vandal. Through my unworthy mouth it, 
for the moment, asks recognition, but soon it will compel the attention of every man 
capable of thinking for himself, and be taught in every corner of the world by a host of 
apostles' and propagandists." 

It would be needless to dwell further upon the "new departures " which 
divided sentiment upon the now mooted question of "Occultism." 

As a sample of the absurdities that were perpetrated by those who in 
utter ignorance of Occultism, Theosophy, or their aims, wantonly resorted 
to the schoolboy trick of pelting them with ridicule and insult, we reprint 
an article sent by the author to the Banner of Light on the occasion of the 
funeral of the Baron de Palm, a Hungarian nobleman who was associated 
with Mrs. Britten, as a member of the first council estabhshed by the 
Theosophical Society in New York. The funeral services took place on 
Sunday afternoon May 28th, 1876, and the lampoons and satirical notices 
of the secular press, and the reticent brief paragraphs of the Spiritual press, 
called forth from the author the following article, which was published in 
the columns of the Banner of Light : — 

" THE LATE BAEON DE PALM AND THE NEW YORK THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 
, " To the Editor of the ' Banner of Light.' 

" In your issue of June 3rd, I see a very brief notice of the funeral obsequies of the 
late Baron de Palm, conducted under the auspices of the Theosophical Society. As the 

* Italics by the author. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 441 

New York secular papers have done us the honour of devoting many columns of their 
'invaluable journals' in contemptuous ridicule of these two subjects, and as they, with 
their usual spirit of fairness fail to afford us any opportunity of representing ourselves in 
contradiction to the foolish rumours and childish criticisms volunteered about us, it has 
seemed meet to the few Spiritualists connected with the Theosophical Society, especially 
those who were engaged in conducting Baron de Palm's funeral obsequies, to ask if we 
cannot have a moderate amount of space in the columns of our chief organ of thought 
for a more fair and complete representation than interested scandal-mongers have hitherto 
afforded us. The Theosophical Society took its rise in the interest manifested by a party 
of ladies and gentlemen who had assembled one evening in the parlours of Madame 
Blavatsky to hear a reading from Mr. George H. Felt, the Egyptologist, and interpreter of 
the figures of the Egyptian Cabala. I have already stated, whilst defending myself 
through the courteous use of your columns, from the extraordinary attacks made upon 
me for the publication of ' Art Magic,' that at the reading to which I refer I met 
Madame Blavatsky and Mr. Felt for the first time in my life, and that it was the aston- 
ishment which my husband and I both felt in hearing from the discourse we listened to 
on the Cabala, so much similarity of ideas and aims to those which we were then busy in 
translating, and were about to publish in the work of an esteemed friend, that induced us 
to urge forward the formation of the Theosophical Society, connect ourselves with it, and 

. do all we could to promote its welfare The initial meetings of the Society 

took place as before stated at the rooms of Madame Blavatsky, subsequently at my own 
house, and after our organisation had been completed at the Mott Memorial Hall. As the 
most concise and yet comprehensive definition I can render of the aims with which this 
society entered upon a concrete existence, I commend to the slanderer and candid querist 
alike, a careful perusal of the following extracts from the printed preamble and by-laws 
which we have put forth : 

" ' The title of the Theosophical Society explains the objects and desires of its founders ; 
they seek " to obtain knowledge of the nature and attributes of the Supreme Power and 
of the higher spirits hy the aid of -physical processes." In other words, they hope, that 
by going deeper than modern science has hitherto done, into the esoteric philosophies of 
ancient times, they may be enabled to obtain, for themselves and other investigators, 
proof of the existence of an " Unseen Universe," the nature of its inhabitants, if such 
there be, and the laws which govern them and their relations with mankind. 

" ' Whatever may be the private opinions of its members, the society has no dogmas to 
enforce, no creed to disseminate. It is formed neither as a Spiritualistic schism, nor to 
serve as the foe or friend of any sectarian or philosophic body. Its only axiom is the 
omnipotence of truth, its only creed a profession of unqualified devotion to its discovery 
and propagation. 

" 'The Theosophical Society has been organized in the interest of religion, science and 
good morals. . . . 

" ' The founders being baffled in every attempt to get the desired knowledge in other 
quarters, turn their faces toward the Orient, whence are derived all systems of religion 
and philosophy. They find our ancestors practising important arts now lost to us. They 
discover them dealing with forces whose very names are now unknown, and the simplest 
demonstration of whose existence is impossible to our scientists. In the Bible occurs a 
multitude of passages which corroborate inferences deducible from the picture-writings 
on the architectural remains of the ancient nations ; while every important museum of 
antiquities augments the proof of their wisdom and enlightenment. 

" ' The Theosophical Society, disclaiming all pretension to the possession of unusual 
advantages, all selfish motives, all disposition to foster deception of any sort, all intent to 
wilfully and causelessly injure any established organization, invites the fraternal co- 
operation of such as can realize the importance of its field of labour, and are in sympathy 
with the objects for which it has been organised. . . .' 

" In concluding my necessarily brief notice of this movement, I have only to add, our 
little gathering has had to contend with all those obstacles which ordinarily hang upon 
the footprints of new movements. We have been misrepresented in many quarters, not 
excepting those from whom we had the most right to expect sympathy and support. We 
have been sneered at as ' attempting to revive the superstitions of the dark ages, and roll 
back the car of progress,' &c., &c. With the same justice that the author of 'Art Magic' 
has been denounced as a Jesuit and a Catholic, because he cited as an illustration of 
mediaeval magic the formulce of Catholic magicians, our society has been denounced as 
antagonistic to truth and progress, because we are aiming to discover the clue to ancient 
sciences, as a basis for modern improvements ; hence we had trials to encounter, com- 
pelling us at last to shield the truths we could not endure to see misrepresented, by 
making our organization, if not actually a secret society in its fullest sense, at least an 
exclusive one, reserving all knowledge of pur deliberations and proceedings to our own 



442 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

members, except where we decided amongst ourselves to give them publicity. An occasion 
of this character occurred in the demise of one of our esteemed associates, the Baron de 
Palm^ whose expressed wish that his obsequies should be conducted under the auspices of 
the Theosophical Society, and as far as possible in accordance with Oriental customs, 
obliged us to present ourselves before the world as a subject for such criticism as it has 
deemed fitting and decent to accord to funeral rites, conducted on a little out-of-the- 
common-order plan. The necessary haste in which this ceremonial was got up, and the 
fact that by the absence of a great many of the fellows of the society, nearly all the 
onerous duties attending this effort devolved upon our esteemed president. Colonel Olcott, 
were circumstances which materially interfered with the full representation of our ideas 
which we so earnestly desired. As it was, on arriving at New York on the Sunday 
morning, the day fixed for the obsequies, I found every journal full of funny writing on 
the funny scene that was expected to take place that afternoon, in the form of a ' Pagan 
funeral,' and Colonel Olcott harassed, overworked, and thoroughly worn out, first with 
the severe task of attending his dying friend, and next with the still severer duties which 
devolved upon him in the attempt to carry out that friend's last wishes. 

" As to the scene which the outside of the grand Masonic Temple presented some two 
hours before that fixed for the ceremonial, it baffles all description. Thanks to the volun- 
tary advertisements which the comic writers of the city thought proper to bestow upon us, 
the Sunday idlers of New York had assembled in vast multitudes to beguile their leisure 
with 'something scarcely less entertaining than Barnum's Hippodrome, or Moody and 
Sankey's hysterical votaries at their confessions. The quiet dignity with which our 
president reminded the vast assemblage who finally succeeded in pressing into the hall, 
that they must remember ' they were in the presence of death,' no doubt had its effect in 
converting the expectations of fun and frolic promised them by their leading journals 
into a spirit of grave and respectful attention. For a further account of the Baron de Palm, 
and the ceremonials which actually took place on the occasion, I refer the reader to the 
following quotations from the New York Tribune and World, both of which journals did 
sufficient justice to the historical features of the scene : — 

" ' BARON DE palm's FUNERAL— SERVICES OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

" ' At the Roosevelt Hospital in this city, on Saturday, May 21, a man died whose life, 
character, and religious belief the singular funeral services performed yesterday at the 
Masonic "Temple bring into prominence. Baron Joseph Henry Louis de Palm, formerly 
Chamberlain of the Duke of Bavaiia, was born at Augsburg, May 10, 1809, and was 

descended from_ an old baronial family dating back, it is said, to the year 832 

The Baron de Palm was educated in diplomacy, for which his talents fitted him, and for a 
long time he was in the German diplomatic service. He lived for years gaily and 
extravagantly in the capitals of Europe, but at last abandoning a life which had become 
wearisome to him, he came to America in 1862, and spent a considerable time among the 
Indian tribes in the far West. He often spoke of the time he passed among the Indians 
as the pleasantest period of his life. Last November, hoping to find in the Theosophical 
Society of this city a system of religious belief which would commend itself to his 
judgment and experience, he joined himself to that organization, to which he willed his 
property, and under its direction his funeral services were conducted yesterday. 

" ' The body of Baron de Palm was embalmed immediately after death, and has been 
lying at the Roosevelt Hospital, whence it was brought by the undertaker, unaccom- 
panied by either priest or pall-bearers, to the Masonic Temple. The casket was of 
rosewood, with plain silver trimmings, and rested upon a simple undecorated catafalque 
upon the platform in the large hall. Black tickets of admission were issued in sufficient 
numbers to fill the hall with people, but as many who received them did not attend, the 
multitude were allowed to rush into the empty seats just after the beginning of the 
service. Upon the coffin and on each side of it were placed Oriental symbols of the faith 
of the dead man, and over the upper end hung the medals and insignia of the Baron's 
diplomatic service, and his patent of nobility. Seven candles of different colours burned 
upon the coffin, and these, with the brazier of incense placed at the left, symbolized fire- 
worsbip. Upon the right stood a cross with a serpent about it, the cross typifying the 
creative principle of nature, and the serpent the principle of evolution. 

" ' At four o'clock a solemn voluntary was played upon the organ, and a few minutes 
later, the seven members of the Society who had been selected to perform the service 
appeared upon the platform in black robes, and carrying in their hands twigs of palm, 
which, according to Oriental belief, are instrumental in warding off danger and misfortune. 
Henry S. Olcott, president of the Society, upon whom devolved all preparations for the 
funeral, and who afterward delivered the funeral discourse, advanced to the front of the 
platform and requested those present to remember they were in the presence of death, 




COL'r JnO. C. BuNDY 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 443 

and that as nothing sensational would occur in the funeral services, the Society expected 
from them a respectful silence. He disclaimed all connection with the Masonic fraternity, 
and said that the service was not to be conducted according to the Egyptian ritual except 
in so far as the symbols of immortality were concerned. A choir of three persons then 
sang an Orphic hymn to organ accompaniment, and this was followed by the invocation, 
pronounced by T. Frederick Thomas. After the prayer came organ music again, and 
then the Theosophic Liturgy, Colonel Olcott asking the questions, &c., which were 
answered by his assistants in the service. The liturgy was followed by another Orphic 
hymn, and then Colonel Olcott advanced to pronounce the funeral oration. 

" ' After describing the life and general characteristics which marked his deceased 
friend and associate, the Baron, the President went on to speak of the Society which he 
then represented, and denounced in fearless terms the gross misrepresentations with 
which the press had endeavoured to mislead the public mind, both in regard to the 
ceremonials now being enacted, and the end and aims of the Theosophists themselves. 
He described the organization and aims of the Society in substance pretty much as I have 
given it above, and concluded a long, bold, and very eloquent address in the following 
terms, which I quote from the Ne.w York World : — 

" ' There in that cofl&n lay a Theosophist. Should his future be pronounced one of 
unalloyed happiness without respect to the course of his life ? No ; but as he had acted so 
should he suffer or rejoice. If he was a sensualist, a usurer, or a corrupter, then the 
divine first cause could not forgive him the least of his offences, for that would be to 
plunge the universe into chaos. There must be compensation, equilibrium, justice. 
Ancient theosophy held immovably to two ideas — the existence of a first cause, and the 
immortality of the soul. The soul was believed to have emanated from the central soul, 
and the body had to be subjugated to the spirit. It was no more thought that one could 
suffer for another's sins than for another's gluttony or other physical wrong doings. The 
opposite belief was responsible for the condition of the world to-day. The scaffold teemed 
with ruffians whose sins it was believed muttered words would wash away. 

" ' Another Orphic hymn followed. Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten then made a brief 
address, in which she declared that she, as one who had spoken with the arisen souls of 
the dead, proclaimed by the revelation of the Great Spirit and his ministering angels, that 
the dead brother, though enfranchised into the higher life, was with his friends yet. 
They who were searching for the great mystery of life and death, had been reviled and scoffed 
at, but here, standing among the emblems of sacred beliefs, they ought to be safe from 
slanderous revilings and unkind jests. Mrs. Britten thought that in this centennial year, 
when human enfranchisement was being celebrated, none should attempt to impose chains 
on the human soul. Then turning toward the coffin she extended her hands bearing 
flowers, and exclaimed : "Speed home, friend and companion ! Thou hast not left us. 
We know that thou hast passed the goid«n gates wherein sorrow eutereth not, and we bid 
thee God speed to thy home of light. Although the golden bowl is broken, and the silver 
cord is loosed, we put on no weeds of mourning, and we offer thee symbols of fiUl-blown 
human life in these flowers." 

"'The High Priest then pronounced the obsequies finished, and the audience slowly 
dispersed. The coffin was left on the platform, and long after all the spectators and 
members of the Society had gone away, it remained alone, stripped of its decorations, and 
with only the roses Mrs. Britten had scattered on it, and three or four green palm branches 
lying upon it, as if to keep the wood nymphs near and protect the dead Baron from the 
dreaded elemental spirits. Toward nightfall it was taken by the solitary undertaker to its 
temporary resting-place in a vault of the Lutheran cemetery. 

" ' Trusting that the admission of these statements, Mr. Editor, will have the desirable 
effect of subduing the tone of rancour, contempt, and unworthy misrepresentation which 
some of our Spiiitualistic brethren have thought proper to adopt towards us poor Theo- 
sophists, I take my leave, and as one of the Council of the Society, in the name of the 
President and the Fellows of that Association, tender you, Mr. Editor, our sincere thanks 
for the space allotted to us in these columns 

" ' Very faithfully yours, 

" ' Emma Hardinge Britten.' " 

All that now remains to be said on this subject is that to the author's 
thinking any knowledge that can be gleaned from true " Occultism " ought 
to be faithfully studied by those who desire to become scientific Spiritualists, 
and any good that has been taught by " Theosophy," as represented in this 
chapter, is equally essential to round out the life here, and prepare for the 
life hereafter, in the religion of a true Spiritualist. 



444 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED). 

'■ Passed Away ! " 

It was in the fall of 1870, that the cause of Spiritualism sustained an 
irreparable loss in the departure for the higher life of Mrs. Fanny Conant, 
for many years the Medium through whom were given those communica- 
tions from all classes of stranger spirits that have formed a leading feature 
in the columns of the Banner of Light. 

It was mainly through the influence of wise Spirits communicating through 
Mrs. Conant, that the Banner of Light y^zs established at all, and it was these 
same far-seeing intelligences who sustained the harassed spirits of its editors, 
when the cares and embarrassments of its pioneer work would have well nigh 
overwhelmed them. It was Mrs. Conant also who founded the celebrated 
Banner of Light circle, at which so many thousands of Spirits sent messages 
of love and consolation to bereaved friends, and afforded the world indis- 
putable proofs of the soul's immortality. This gifted and versatile Medium 
had lived to see her brother, Mr. Crowell, one of the earliest assistant 
editors of the Banner, Wm. Berry and Wm. White, each in turn, editors 
and part proprietors of the paper, pass on to the higher life, leaving herself 
and Mr. Colby all that remained of the original founders of this onerous 
undertaking. The time came at length when these faithful allies were to 
part, when the veteran editor Luther Colby was to see the last of his early 
associates vanish from his side, whilst Fanny Conant, so well beloved 
throughout the ranks of Spiritualism, gave up her twenty years' trust of 
the Spiritual standard ; and in the words of the poet — 

" Folded her pale hands so meekly, 
Spake with us on earth no more." 

When the first shock of this transition was over, the following correspon- 
dence ensued in the columns of the paper so long associated with Mrs. 
Conant's name. We give it in full, as it speaks in far more graphic 
language than we could command, of the esteem with which the inesti- 
mable services of the departed lady were remembered by some of Boston's 
most respected and prominent merchants : — 

"the late MRS. J. H. CONANT. MEMORIAL SERVICE IN MUSIC HALL, 
BOSTON, OCTOBER lOTH. 

" Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, — Madam : The undersigned, friends of the late Mrs. 
J. H. Conant, appreciating her faithful services in the cause of Spiritualism, so many years 
a prominent medium of rare power, estimable character, and of unquestioned honesty, feel 
as if something of the character of a Memorial Service would be but a fitting tribute to 
her worth, as well as a gratification to us, and to her friends in general, who are the body 
of Spiritualists all over the world. 

" Knowing you to be one of our most gifted speakers and a sister medium, who knew her 
well, we have thought it would be a pleasure to you, as well as to her friends in general, to 
undertake such a service, and we therefore invite you to deliver an oration upon her life 
and work as you are qualified to give on such an occasion. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 445 

" You will please select such time as will be most agreeable to you, and when informed 
we will make all the necessary arrangements suitable for such a service. Hoping this will 
meet with your approval and acceptance, 
" We remain, most truly yours, 

"Allen Putnam, J. S. Ladd, 
" John Wetherbee, Phineas E. Gat, 
" Daniel Farear, Anson J. Stone, 
"David Wildee, L. A. Bigelow, 
" J. F. Alderman, M. V. Lincoln, 
" Fred. A. Godld, G-eorge W. Smith, 
"R. H. Spalding, George A. Bacon. 
"Boston, September 17th, 1875." 



" To Messrs. Allen Putnam, Judge Ladd, and others, 

" Gentlemen, — Your favour of the I7th inst, has been received by me with feelings of 
unmixed gratification and interest. From the time when our most excellent and esteemed 
co-worker, Mrs. J. H. Conant, closed her mortal pilgrimage amongst us I have felt for 
myself, and all who have participated in the new hght and life that Spiritualism has 
brought us, a sense of pain and humiliation at our lack of opportunity to testify to the 
whole world how gratefully we remembered her invaluable services, how tenderly we 
appreciated the martyrdoms her mediumistic life had imposed upon her, and how strongly 
our sympathies were moved by the obvious fact that in the prime of her early womanhood 
the faithful and self-sacrificing labourer has sunk beneath the cross she bore, and all too 
soon for us and for the world, has left us to shoulder the burden too heavy for her to 
endure longer. 

'■ When some years since I had the honour of representing Spiritualism in the memorial 
services held in this city, in memory of the venerable John Pierpont, one of the leading 
journals commented somewhat severely on the fact that this act of grateful reverence to a 
* Spiritualistic notable ' was remarkable for its rarity on the part of Spirituahsts. 

" I rejoice to beUeve that the proposed tribute to one so eminently worthy as Mrs. 
Conant may afford us the opportunity of wiping away this reproach, and I am especially 
grateful for the selection which confers on me the gracious task of tendering to the 
ascended spirit of our beloved friend a just and well-merited recognition of the life-long 
work of devotion she has performed amongst us. However incompetent I may deem 
myself to meet the requirements of the great demand you make; upon me, I shall not 
hesitate for one moment to do your bidding. I feel as if every true and honest Spu-itualist 
in America must be with us, and if not in person, at least in the spirit of love and 
sympathy, so many grateful thousands will join in this memorial service, that my short- 
comings will be forgotten in the intention of so memorable an occasion. 

" Holding myself and my services entirely at your disposal, gentlemen, in the order of 
the exercises you propose, and only suggesting that you should name the time most 
suitable for convening an assemblage worthy the subject of the meeting, I am, very 
faithfully yours, " Emma Haedinge Britten. 

" 206, West 38th Street, New York, September 18th, 1875.' 

" The persons moving in this matter of memorial service have arranged to have it take 
place on Sunday afternoon, October 10th, at 2| o'clock, in Music Hall, to which the public 
are invited free. " John Wetherbee, for the Committee. 

" Boston, September 29th, 1875." 

Several of the daily journals of Massachusetts gave brief but respectful 
notices of *'the memorial service" which took place in the Boston Music 
Hall in the presence of about three thousand deeply moved and interested 
auditors. The following excerpt from the Boston Herald is a fair specimen 
of the press notices which the occasion called forth : — 

" SPIRITUALISM. 

" Services in memory of the late Mrs. Fanny Conant were held at Music Hall yesterday 
afternoon. There was a large attendance of the Spiritualists of Boston and vicinity. 
The platform was decorated with flowers and autumn leaves. Mr. John Wetherbee 
presided, and introduced the orator of the occasion (Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten) in a 
few felicitous words. Mrs, Britten commenced by reciting an eloquent invocation given 



446 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

through the mediumship of Mrs. Conant, and then gave a brief biographical sketch of the 
departed. Although her life was a protracted martyrdom, it had been continuously 
devoted to the service of humanity. As the Banner of Light medium for about twenty 
years, she had been the instrument of receiving more than 10,000 communications from 
the spirit world, the genuineness of many of them having been tested iu the most conclusive 
manner. To her was due the origin of the Banner, and largely to her the moral support 
which gave strength to the faltering hands of its proprietors and enabled them to continue 
their great work for Spiritualism and humanity. Mrs. Britten, who was frequently 
applauded, closed with an eloquent tribute to ' dear, brave little Fanny Conant.' The 
speaker is a noble-looking, gracious-mannered lady, with a style of oratory at once brilliant, 
pathetic, and powerful." 

To Mr. Allen Putnam's charming biography of Fanny Conant, and the 
book of her recorded communications entitled " Flashes of Light,"* we 
must refer the reader for more minute details concerning the life and 
services of this admirable Medium. The writer who tenders her memory 
this imperfect but heartfelt tribute of affection can well say of Mrs. Conant 
what many others all over the world have felt, that in this generation at 
least, " we ne'er shall look upon her like again." 

It would seem almost superfluous in this connection to add expressions 
either of eulogy or explanation concerning the journal quoted in nearly 
every chapter of this volume, the name of which, the Banner of Light, has 
become a household word on the lips of every Spiritualist ; and yet for the 
sake of that posterity to which we dare believe this work will descend, we 
deem it fitting to add a few brief paragraphs on a subject which now needs 
no other comment than its name affords. For a period of over a quarter 
of a century, the Banner of Light has redeemed its significant title by carry- 
ing the glad tidings of immortality to every land of civilization. Its articles 
have been translated into every written language, and its glorious standard 
has been raised wherever reading men and women have congregated 
together in this nineteenth century. 

Of all th.e original staff that first constituted its strength, and founded its 
illimitable usefulness, Luther Colby, its veteran editor, alone remains. An 
experienced " press man," in the outset of the Ba?mer's career, Mr. Colby 
knew how to place it before the world in a practical and acceptable point 
of view. 

It has changed its external appearance from time to time, but always 
risen in the scale of mechanical excellence and editorial completeness. 

It has changed its corps of editors and contributors many times, for the 
harvest angel of death has swept his sickle through the field of effort and 
transplanted many a shining head from the dull glare of the lamps of earth 
to the star roads of eternity ; but Luther Colby has still kept his place at 
the helm, firm, faithful, unswerving, in whatever he may have considered to 
be his path of duty. Many have differed from him ; many condemned his 
course; and many exalted it to the skies. Unmoved by praise or blame, 
the gallant old standard-bearer has unfurled his flag to the breeze, and 
waited till the storm passed by, but never departed from the course 
suggested to him through his own Mediumship, or that of the associates in 
whom he has placed confidence. 

Mr. Isaac Rich, the second proprietor of this grand old paper, with Mr. 
Colby, although he takes but little part in its editorial conduct, is well- 
known throughout the Spiritual book trade for the two great though too 
often dissevered elements, honour and enterprise. Both these noble qualities 
have distinguished Mr. Rich in his world-wide dealings. Who then can 

* Published by Colby and Rich, Banner o/ Light Office, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 447 

take exception, if the Banner of Light, with its well-matched associates and 
a well-tried corps of assistants, does not always represent the opinions of 
this or the other party ? Mr. Colby and a large majority of his contributors 
have incurred the censure of many prominent and earnest Spiritualists, for 
what they deem to be the all too embracing spirit of charity with which 
the Banner staff have excused the errors and frailties of many a defaulting 
Medium. Whilst the author — besides those above alluded to— has taken 
exception to this position, she knows beyond a peradventure, that it has 
been assumed in the strictest integrity of purpose by the kind-hearted editor 
and his friends, and that sooner than see those whom they regard as " the 
pillars of their faith" — the Mediums— ^' 2ih\ised" they would err on the 
opposite side of the question, and regard their shortcomings with even too 
much leniency in consideration of their actual Mediumistic endowments. 

Notwithstanding the wide differences of opinion on this subject that 
have arisen between the editors of the Banner of Light, their collaborateurs, 
and others, every Spiritualist in the ranks must admit that the good name 
of the house so honourably represented by Mr. Rich, and the long and 
invaluable years of service and devotion contributed by Mr. Colby, call for 
an earthly acknowledgment, and one which the writer firmly beUeves is 
but the faint shadow of that immortal record wherein the Baniier of Light, 
and the names of its devoted upholders, will be found inscribed in letters 
of imperishable gold. 

Whilst our attention is attracted to the journalistic department of the 
movement, we must remind our readers of an event which happily finds no 
parallel in the entire thirty-five years' history of modern Spiritualism — that 
is to say, not in connection with any of the immediate actors in that mighty 
drama. It was on the 15th of March, 1877, that the tidings flashed over 
the wires throughout the length and breadth of the United States, that Mr. S. 
S. Jones, the enterprising and well-known proprietor of the Religio Philo- 
sophical Journal, had been cruelly murdered in his own office in the city of 
Chicago, and that the perpetrator of the foul deed had surrendered himself 
into the hands of justice. 

The circumstances of this tragic event are so clearly detailed in the 
Banner of Light of the 3i3t of March, 1877, that we cannot do better than 
follow the record, which reads thus : — 

"At little past the hour of noon on the 15th inst., William C. Pike called at the 
Harrison Street Police Station and surrendered himself as the murderer of Stevens S. 
Jones, whose body, he said, they would find struggling in death at his office, in room 16. 
in the Religio Philosophical Publishing House Building, No. 394, Dearborn Street, Chicago. 
An officer was sent to the office in question, examined the premises, found the assassin's 
words were true, and, after assisting to remove the corpse from the floor, where it had 
fallen from the chair in which the murdered man sat when he was approached from 
behind and shot dead without even a warning of danger, returned and reported the 
startling truth at the station. 

" On post mortem examination two bullet wounds were found in the body ; one bullet 
entered the medulla oblongata at the junction of the spinal cord, passed upward and 
forward, and lodged against the as frontis. The ball was found to fit the pistol given up 
by the assassin ; the other bullet entered the lower portion of the right shoulder, pa ^sing 
upward, and lodged in the muscles. Dr. Holden testified that consciousness must bave 
ceased on the very second in which the shot was fired. The assassin claims to be a 
phrenologist, and had, if the daily papers may be believed, boasted that his knowledge 
as such enabled him to select that particular point at which to place his pistol (for it was 
sufficiently close to burn the hair upon the neck) and insure the accomplishment of this 
most foul murder against all chance of failure. 

" According to the indications this sad catastrophe was the result of an effiart at black- 
mailing, at which the high spirit of Bro. Jones rebelled. It is a singular index in this 



448 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

direction, says the Religio's account, that but a few moments previously to the murder, 
Mr. Jones ' passed into the business office, and procured a note of 24 dollars, made by the 
assassin, and that note has never been seen since, unless by its maker.' 

" The following is the verdict of .the jury summoned by the coroner in view of the 
lamentable occurrence :— 

" ' We, the jury, find that Stevens S. Jones came to his death on the 15th day of March, 
1877, at the Religio Philosophical Publishing House Building, No. 127 4th Avenue, in the 
city of Chicago, by two pistol shot wounds, one through the head, and the other through 
the right shoulder, at the hands of Wm. C. Pike, premeditatedly, deliberately, and mali- 
ciously, and find it murder in the first degree ; we also find evidence to satisfy us that 
Genevieve Pike, his reputed wife, should be held as an accessory before the fact, and 
recommend that both persons be held for the action of the Grand Jury, without bail.' 

" The account proceeds, with the parenthetical remark, to the sentiment of which all 
lovers of humanity will accede a willing agreement : — 

" ' It may be proper to say in this connection, that the family and friends of the man 
so cowardly assassinated do not desire the blood of the assassin, nor that of the woman 
Genevieve, and beyond an honest endeavour to arrive at all the truth (by which they are 
sure the entire innocence of the murdered man of the charges preferred against him will 
be estabhshed), they are satisfied the law shall take its course, and infiict such reasonable 
punishment, short of the death penalty) as may be thought necessary to protect society.' " 

On Saturday, March 17th, the funeral obsequies of the murdered gentle- 
man were conducted at his late residence by his numerous and attached 
friends, and the members of the Masonic and Oddfellow lodges to which he 
had belonged. The Rev. R. L. Herbert and Mrs. Cora Richmond were 
the officiating ministers on the occasion, and the latter, by the pathos and 
eloquence of her address, served to deepen the impression which the truly 
Spiritual services produced upon the assembled multitude. It was after 
giving a detailed account of these interesting services, that the editor of the 
Banner of Light proceeded in the issue above quoted from, to render a just 
tribute to his talented Spiritual collaborateur in a biographical notice, from 
which we select the following noteworthy items : — 

" BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE DECEASED. 

" Stevens S. Jones, the editor and proprietor of the Eeligio Philosophical Journal, a 
weekly newspaper devoted to the promulgation of Liberalism and Modem Spiritualism, 
and the Little Bouquet, a monthly magazine adapted to the minds of children and youth, 
promulgating the same doctrine, was born in Barre, Vt., on July 22nd, 1813. His parents 
were intelligent, liberal-minded people. His father was a farmer in moderate circum- 
stances 

" At the age of nineteen Mr. Jones entered upon the study of the law, and was ad- 
mitted to practice at the November term of Court, He entered upon a successful practice 
of his profession in Hyde Park soon after he was admitted, and remained there until his 
removal to St. Charles, HI., in the spring of 1838 

'' For many years Mr. Jones confined himself to his profession, and ranked high as a 
lawyer. He was twice elected Judge of the Kane County Court, and discharged the 
duties of the office to the general satisfaction of the pubhc. 

''At an early day in the history of railroads of the Northwest, Mr. Jones was actively 
engaged as a railroad man 

" Mr. Jones always belonged to the Liberal school in religion. His parents were Univer- 
salists, and he, for many years after arriving at manhood, was an active member of that 
sect. He was generally the presiding officer at the State conventions, associations, and 
representative gatherings of the order during the first fifteen years of their history in the 
State of Illinois. 

" He dates his conversion to Modern Spiritualisn mainly to the perusal of that remark- 
able work given through the early mediumship of Andrew Jackson Davis, called ' Nature's 
Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind.' 

" The perusal of that work soon after its publication prepared his mind for the recep- 
tion of the truth of spirit communion as given through the mediumship of the ' Fox girls.' 

" Once having been convinced of the truth of spirit communion, he fearlessly pro- 
claimed it on all proper occasions, never obtruding his views, however, upon unwilling 
ears. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



449 



" Often was he heard to speak incidentally of the assurance given him by communica- 
ting spirits that he would, at no remote time, be as deeply engrossed in promulgating the 
truths of spirit intercourse, and the philosophy of life, as he was then in his professional 
business. But not until the spring of 1865 did he fully realise the truth of that oft- 
repeated assurance. Then it was that he found himself fully committed to the work of 
promulgating the philosophy of life through the columns of the Religio Philosophical 
Journal. 

" Mr. Jones's publishing house was entirely consumed in the great Chicago fire of Oct. 
9th, 1871. His loss was very heavy, and he received nothing from insurance companies. 
Some small sums were loaned him, but all was refunded within sis months afterwards. 

" Most vigorously did he go to work to restore his publishing business. His paper for 
the week of the fire, fortunatelj', was maUed, and on its way to the subscribers, when the 
' fire-fiend ' did its work. While the fire was yet raging he wrote the matter for a new 
issue — smaller in size — and had it printed and mailed in advance of time, assuring his 
subscribers that, although burned out clean, the Religio Philosophical Journal would be 
continued without unnecessary delay. 

" He then went directly to New York and purchased an entire new outfit, and in five 
weeks had the Religio Philosophical Journal, full size, in the United States mails on its 
way to its subscribers. In the meantime, between the fire and the printing of the paper 
in its new dress — full size— he every week greeted his subscribers with the Religio Philo- 
sophical Journal, small in size, that they might not be in the dark as to the progress being 
made by him to reinstate his publishing house. None of the publishers in Chicago on 

that memorable occasion excelled him in enterprise 

- " Mr. Jones, although his locks were whitened with age, was in full vigour of manhood, 
and devoted his whole time to conducting his business financially and editorially. . . " 

The charge of the Religio-Philosophical Jo2irnal was at once assumed on 
Mr. Jones's decease by his son-in-law and former business manager Colonel 
Bundy, and as this gentleman still continues his great and onerous work, 
and no single individual in the ranks has ever made a deeper and more 
healthful mark upon the reputation of the Spiritual movement, both as a 
man and an editor, it seems in order at this point to give an outline of the 
special place in the work of journalistic propagandism which Colonel Bundy's 
paper occupies. We have now before us some printed sheets issued from 
the Religio-Philosophical Journal ofhce, which broadly define the general 
tone, aim, and purpose of that excellent periodical : — 

"platform of the 'religio philosophical journal.' 

'' The old readers of the Religio Philosophical Journal know our aims and efforts in the 
past, and can judge of our future, but a few words may be due to the new readers of the 
enlarged list that our reduction of terms is bringing. We shall hold steadily on, ' 'bating 
no jot of heart or hope,' as brave John Milton said when defending liberty of thought, 
yet enlarging our scope and enriching our pages as the way opens. We shall advocate 
the Sphitual Philosophy, with its bright outlook toward the life beyond, undimmed 
by any haze or darkness of Materialism ; yet, while holding firmly to our own 
ideas, and criticising others fairly, frankly, and strongly if need be, we shall respect all 
honest opinions, give them fair hearing, and so aim to win the respect of those from 
whom we may differ. . 

" Holding that Spiritualism in its broad meaning is The Science op Life, we shall aim 
to supply its facts in a direct and practical way. Such temperance, self-control, and 
knowledge of physiological law as shall help us to prepare healthy bodies fit for pure 
spirits to use and inhabit, through long, useful, and happy lives on earth, we shall urge as 
of high importance. The equality of woman in her social and pohtical relations, in mar- 
riage, in the home, and in public affairs, as indispensable to a better state of society and 
a higher civilisation, we shall continue to advocate. The taxation of church property, 
the remanding of Bible reading and sectarian prayer from our public schools to 
the church, the home, and the Sxinday school, where there will be no 
infringement on the consciences of others ; and all that helps a total separa- 
tion of Church and State, and the truest freedom of thought and conscience, 
we shall persistently stand for. ' Liberty, but not Libertinism,' is a good motto, and it 
will be our aim to disapprove all vulgar or immoral writings, especially if in the guise of 
pretended reform or progress. The pathway of reform must be clean, and true progress 

29 



45° 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 



leads to purity and self-conquest. In the light of immortality our daily conduct has 
a new and larger significance. The facts and phenomena of Spiritualism coming mostly, 
of course, through mediumship, are of priceless value and transcendent interest, and the 
wisest and kindest of efforts are needed to aid and encourage true mediums. While 
charitable to the frailties which they have in common with others, we have ever held that 
persistent and habitual fraud should be exposed, and that those who practise it are un- 
worthy of support and confidence. 

" Such frauds we have opposed, and shall continue to do so, and our course has not 
only been approved by a majority of the best Spiritualists, but by a goodly number 
of the best and most reliable mediums, as their testimonials in our columns during 
the past year show. 

" Care, accuracy, and truthfulness are indispensable in the investigation of spirit 
manifestations. We have, therefore, urged that good mediums should at times sub- 
mit to thorough, yet fair, test conditions, asked and granted in a spirit of mutual 
good faith and goodwill, and such as many of our best mediums have most willingly 
granted ; and this not only for the satisfaction of inquirers, but for the good repute 
of mediums. 

" The cry that we are an enemy of mediums is of no consequence to us, and will 
not turn us a hair's breadth from our course. We shall go on in the exposure of all 
persistent fraud, and in the effort to uphold and befriend real mediumship and good 
mediums. ..." 

" While, no doubt, persons not of high ' moral qualities may sometimes be good 
instruments for spirits to use, yet sincerity lies at the base of the finest spiritual 
gifts. Without willingness to give test-conditions, we can hope for little respect from 
others, and for little success in convincing careful investigators. 

" We feel and are earnestly assured by thousands that our timely exposures of 
fraud have helped to save the great and precious Spiritual Movement from peril and 
degradation, and shall go on, if necessary, in that part of our work, trusting to gain 
in uncompromising fidelity and ' in malice toward none and charity to all.' " 

From a large number of press comments which Colonel Bundy's unsparing 
denunciations of fraud and counterfeit Spiritualism has called forth, both 
from friends and foes, the following is selected as a fair representative 
example : — 

"The Religio Philosophical Journal, of Chicago, as its name implies, is a weekly pub- 
lication, exclusively devoted to religion and philosophy, and is recognized among its many 
readers as the boldest, as well as the most sincere and able, journal published in the West, 
and has for its motto — ' Truth wears no mask, bows at no human shrine, seeks neither 
place nor applause ; she only asks a hearing.' 

" While the journal is published mainly in the interest of Spiritual philosophy, it 
shows no quarter to mediums who will not submit to the most scrutinizing tests of their 
genuineness. It will not tolerate humbugs, or recommend any travelling mediums, who 
do not court, and submit to, absolute test conditions, in their exhibitions of mediumship. 
This rigid scrutiny over the subject of Spiritualism has raised up to the journal some 
enemies of the gullable kind, but at the same time it has done more to call attention to, 
and establish the truth of the phenomena than all the other journals together. It is a 
good and ably edited paper, bold and outspoken on all subjects, but treating mainly upon 
philosophy, science, and religion, so far as religion can be reduced to philosophy and 
science. 

"It has been a welcome weekly visitor to our desk for several years past, and we 
propose to so continue it at whatever coat.— Democrat News, Xenia, Ohio." 

During the author's far and wide wanderings round the world as a Spiritual 
propagandist, no charge has been more universally preferred against the 
cause of Spiritualism than that of being allied to the odious doctrines of 
" Free love." 

We have already made our readers aware of the utter falsity of this charge 
and the concatenation of circumstances which gave the antagonists of 
Spiritualism an opportunity — which they eagerly embraced — of shouldering 
the daring licentiousness of the few, upon the entire rank and file of the 
Spiritualists, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 451 

In foreign lands however, and especially when lacking those literary 
references which would have enabled her to furnish abundant counter state- 
ments, the author's denials of this abhorrent stain would have found but 
slight chance of acceptance, had she not been nobly sustained by the 
uncompromising denunciations of *' Free love " and all its propagandists, 
which filled the columns of the Religio Philosophical Journal during the 
entire period that this madness ruled the public mind. Here was a well 
recognized and leading organ of Spiritualism disclaiming all fellowship with 
the promoters of this doctrine, and protesting against its abominable 
practices with a trumpet tongue which could neither be mistaken nor denied. 

The author is under a debt of deep gratitude to Colonel Bundy for the 
triumphant refutation which his journal has afforded against the groundless 
charge that there ever was, or could be, the smallest links of connection 
between the doctrines of true Spiritualism and " Free love." Allied to the 
daughter of the late Mr. S. S. Jones, a lady whose brilliant talents "^ell 
fitted her to be the companion of a leading journalist, and whose em^ nt 
virtues, noble character, and sweetness of disposition, are calculated <^o 
make her husband's home a paradise, it has been argued that the editor of 
the Religio is not competent to judge of the urgent necessity to reform the 
wrongs that ensue from unhappy marriages or the miseries of discordant 
homes. 

In answer to this plea it has been abundantly shown that the Religio has 
ever been the champion of true reforms. Its special aim has been to draw 
the impassable line of demarcation between liberty and licence, moral law and 
immoral lawlessness, true love and true licentiousness. It is in this sense 
that its columns have redeemed Spiritualism from the fc ^s of its own house- 
hold, and furnished the author on countless occasions with a sword which 
has slain the very arguments that would otherwise have slain Spiritualism. 

Another speciality of the Religio Philosophical Journal has been its 
editor's fearless exposure of the frauds practised in the name of Spiritualism 
and the resolute protection which he has extended not only to genuine 
Mediums, but also to earnest investigators by his unsparing denuncia- 
tion of sham manifestations, and attempts to simulate genuine Spirit 
Mediumship. 

Before dismissing these journalistic notices, it should be added, that the 
excellent little paper to which frequent allusion has been made. The Spiritual 
Scientist^ so ably edited by Mr. Gerry Brown, as well as the bright Cleve- 
land paper entitled The American Spiritualist, established by A. A. 
Wheelock, were both, after many severe struggles on the part of their 
editors, compelled to suspend for want of adequate support. 

An admirable journal started in New York by the learned writer Dr. 
Eugene Crowell, entitled, The Two Worlds, has also shared the same 
discouraging fate. At present, besides the two great Eastern and Western 
journals, the Banner and Religio, the Ba7iner of Light advertises the 
existence of the following papers devoted to the propagandism of the 
Spiritual cause : — The Spiritual Offering, published in Iowa by Messrs. 
Fox and Wilson; Light for All, San Francisco; Miller's Psychometric 
Circular, New York ; and the Voice of Angels, claimed to be edited by the 
spirit of its late editor, D. C. Densmore. Quite recently, two new 
Spiritual publications have been added to this list, the titles of which speak 
for themselves. The one is called The Mediunis Friend, pubUshed at 
Terre Haute, Indiana, proprietor, George R. Moore ; and Light for 
Thinkers, Atlanta, Georgia, Messrs. Kates and Bowman, editors. 



452 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

We are not prepared to state what amount of support is extended to 
these several periodicals', but none who have entered upon such a field of 
effort can mistake the fact, that they can only be conducted by an amount 
of self-sacrifice and personal effort, which amply deserves — even if it 
cannot command — success. 

Many volumes of interest have passed through the Spiritual press since 
the publication of " Modern American Spiritualism," the most admired and 
important of which is — in point of scientific research and exhaustive scope 
— Dr. Eugene Crowell's "Primitive Christianity and Modern Spiritualism." 
Dr. Crowell's honoured name is a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of 
this work ; it is only necessary to add therefore that the student will find 
in its two handsome volumes a complete treasury of those facts, ancient 
and modern, which represent the Spiritual progress of humanity. 

Amongst the very last works that have come "as a light to lighten the 
Gentiles " of modern times, is a book purporting to emanate from the 
greatest and most exalted of Spirits, through the automatic Mediumship of' 
Dr. Newborough, of New York, entitled, "Oahspe." It is claimed to be 
" a new bible " and to give an account of the human race, its origin, crea- 
tion, and history, for twenty-four thousand years, together with a synopsis 
of what happened during sixteen cycles or forty -eight thousand years 
previous. Antedating the production of this volume, and amongst a collec- 
tion of others which would require many pages to enumerate, are three 
which the author names with a pang of human regret, as they recall the 
memory of her most esteemed friends Robert Dale Owen, Epes Sargent, 
and Professor S. B. Brittan. 

The most recent works of value bequeathed by these esteemed scholars 
to the world, are Owen's " Debatable Land," Sargent's " Proof Palpable of 
Spiritualism," and Brittan's " Battle Ground of the Spiritual Reformation." 

Though we cannot introduce any lengthened biographical notices into 
this volume, we should be unfaithful to the integrity of history if we failed 
to recall some items of the life work of such eminent champions as in 
themselves make history. 

The best tribute we can off'er to Mr. Owen at present then is to select 
from the eulogistic notices which followed him to the life beyond from every 
part of Europe, America, and the Colonies, the following brief extracts from 
the English and i\merican Spiritual journals. 

The Banner of Light says : — 

"decease of ROBERT DALE OWEN. 

" On Sunday morning, the 24tli inst ., our old friend and valued co-worker passed to 
the reward which surely awaited him (as it does- all who labour for the advancement of 
every phase of truth on earth) in the land of souls. 

" Mr. Owen was in character singularly simple, straightforward, and refined, and he 
enjoyed- the esteem and friendship of a large number of men prominent in literature and 
public hfe, outside of as weU as within the ranks of the spiritual believers. He was a 
man of unusually vigorous intellect, honest beyond all question, and animated by a noble 
desire to benefit the human race and promote sound principles. 

" Robert Dale was born at Glasgow, Scotland, November 7th, 1801, and spent his early 
years at New Lanark, under the care of a private teacher. He subsequently studied for 
three years at Hofwyl, in Switzerland, and in 1823 came to this country with his father. 
He lived several years at New Harmony, Indiana, where his father was engaged in an 
efibrt to build up a community in accord with his theories, but from 1828 to 1831 was in 
New York, conducting a weekly paper called The Free Enquirer, in partnership with Miss 
Frances Wright. He returned to New Harmony in 1832, after his marriage with Mary 
Jane Robinson^ daughter of Samuel Robinson, a prominent merchant of New York. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 453 

" Mr. Owen after settling at New Harmony, had considerable experience in public life. 
He served in the Indiana Legislature and in Congress. He introduced the bill organising 
the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1846 became one of its regents and chairman of its 
Building Committee. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in Indiana in 
1850, and both in the Convention and the Legislature endeavoured to secure the adoption 
of measures granting independent rights of property to women. He was appointed 
Charge d' Affaires at Naples in 1853 and Minister in 1855, and remained there until 1858. 
For the last few years Mr. Owen was engaged mostly in literary work. 

" His investigations in Spiritualism began some twenty years ago or more, and he be- 
came a devout believer in its philosophy and phenomena, passing out of the form in the 
full assurance of its truth. His first important work on the subject was, " Footfalls on 
the Boundaries of Another World," pubhshed in 1860, and in 1872 appeared " The De- 
batable Land Between This World and the Next." In these two books an account is 
given of his studies and observations with mediums, and many marvellous experiences 
are related. 

" He published several books prior to 1860, including a historical drama, entitled, 
" Pocahontas," and " Hints on Public Architecture," and in 1870 appeared a novel under 
the title, " Beyond the Breakers." Previous to his illness in 1875 he was engaged on an 
autobiography, portions of which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. Mr. Owen devoted 
much thought to social and philosophical questions, and was a vigorous writer and 
attractive speaker. 

" Within a few years he again entered the marriage state, residing with the lady who 
linked her fortunes with his, at Lake George, N.Y., up to the time of his decease. The 
army of progress on earth has lost the material presence of a vahant soldier, but the 
workers in the sphere of causation have, in his transition, won a powerful recruit." 

"MR. ROBERT DALE OWEN'S LAST SEAN'CE. 

The Boston Herald says : — 

" It was the writer's good fortune, while on a visit to a prominent Spiritualist in 
Brooklyn, N.Y., three weeks ago, to meet, for the first time, Mr. Robert Dale Owen, and 
to dwell under the same roof with him for several days. At the same residence was an 
excellent private medium, and once or twice a day circles would be held. So marked 
were the demonstrations that other members of the circle could not help becoming sen- 
sible that the gathering was one that awaited his coming in the other life, The writer 
fancies that even Mr. Owen so interpreted it, for at times the language was unmistakable. 
Among others who came was one who announced himself as " Commodore S., who knew 
Mr, Owen in Naples, and had many a good time with him." Mr. Owen asked for the fuU 
name, and it was given — " Commodore Stringham." " That is very good," said Mr. Owen, 
"and I know to what he refers. Has he anything to say to me ?" The reply came — 
" Yes, you can't row your boat much longer ; it is time for you to go into the cabin." 
Mr. Owen seemed disposed to take the communication literally, and alluded to his boat at 
home on Lake George ; but the control interrupted, saying, " No, that is not meant ; you 
have sailed a good ship ; you have kept a straight course ; the voyage is nearly ended, 
and you will soon come to an anchor. Then I shall meet you on the shore in company 
with your other friends and relatives who wait your coming. Do you understand ? Mr. 
Owen replied that he did, and for a time a feeling of sadness fell on the little company, 
for they knew that Mr. Owen was soon to exchange the corruptible for the uncorruptible, 
and the mortal would put on immortality. At a later seance, when Mr. Owen was taking 
an afternoon rest on one of the warm summer days in early June, the intelligence was 
communicated that his mission was nearly ended, and before the autumn leaves fell he 
vyould be among those in the spirit whom he longed to greet. This was Mr. Owen's last 
seance, and a pleasant one it was. As a prominent author was also present, it will, 
undoubtedly, at some time be presented, with all its details." 

Dr. Brittan, one of the earhest, most faithful, and most able champions 
of which the new faith has had reason to boast, seems to have parted from 
us but yesterday, and so vast is the void that he has left unfilled that we 
cannot even yet " make him dead," or realize that we can no longer appeal 
to him as a tower of strength in our hours of trial and discipline. 

Dr. Brittan's earthly pilgrimage closed in the beginning of the present 
year, and on the 9th of January, 1883, his funeral obsequies were celebrated 



454 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Stryker, in Newark, New Jersey, 
Amongst the distinguished friends who pronounced addresses of eulogy and 
farewell on that memorable occasion were Mrs. Cora L. V. Richmond, the 
celebrated trance speaker; Dr. J. .R. Buchanan, the great writer and anthro- 
pologist ; Mr. A. A. Wheelock ; Mr. Henry Kiddle, ex-school superinten- 
dent of New York ; and Mr. Charles Partridge, Dr. Brittan's early friend 
and associate in the publication of the first, and still one of the very best 
Spiritual papers ever printed, namely the grand old Spiritual Telegraph, 
of New York. As a clear and concise account of Dr. Brittan's earliest 
labours and first connection with the cause of Spiritualism when he was the 
Rev. S. B. Brittan, an Universalist clergyman, will be found in the twenty 
years' " History of Modern American Spiritualism," we cannot give a more 
fitting resume of his later years, than that detailed in the speech of his 
friend, Mr. Charles Partridge, which we reprint from the report in the 
Banner of Light in full. Mr. Partridge said : — 

" Mr. Chairman aud Friends : I have been delighted in being here this afternoon, for I 
know that what has been said of our departed friend, Brittan, is true. 1 was associated 
with him as a partner in 1852, and some years afterward, in the publishing of the 
Spiritual Telegraph, the SheJcinah, and various books on the subject of Spiritualism, 
written by men who were early investigators of the phenomena. Dr. Gray, Judge 
Edmonds, and Dr. Hallock were generally with us. We were satisfied that Spiritualism 
is true ; that spirits communicated with us. And when we became thus satisfied, we 
engaged mediums, and the doors were open, free of charge to anybody who desired to 
come and investigate the subject ; and thousands did so. Many, however, who after 
investigating exclaimed : ' Oh ! I never can doubt again,' often doubted before they 
reached the next corner. As soon as their prejudices returned, the truth had to go. 

" Dr. Buchanan has described to you pretty fully the prejudice of the people against 
new things. What do you think it must have been when we investigated the fact that 
spirits communicated with mortals, and pronounced it true ? All the churches without 
exception denied it, and alleged every kind of evil of it, and of us. It was a fraud, or of 
the devU. They had an abundance of devils then to whom to attribute anything they did 
not accept, and they had no mercy on Spii'itualism. But more recently some have lost 
the chief of that society ; the devil has been expelled from many of the churches, and 
they cannot thus dispose of the truths that spirits communicate. 

" You may understand, after hearing Dr. Buchanan, what the early Spiritualists had 
to meet. You cannot understand it fully, but you can get an idea. Why ! our friends 
discarded us ; they did not desire our acquaintance in society or in business ; and even 
the banks did not want our accounts any more. If they were asked if such a one's credit 
was good, they would say : ' Well, it used to be ; but he is one of these Spiritualists, and 
we would rather not say anything about it.' That was particularly the case in this city. 
Dr. Brittan stood firmly throughout, as well as all of the others that I have named, with 
many others. As to myself, I never cared what people said about me, and I do not now. 
I often said to them : ' If your slanders do you any good, go on ; they do not hurt me.' 

" At present you can see what Spiritualism has done in the world — what reforms are 
going on in the religions of the time, wherever the people are free to think for themselves 
without being condemned as lunatics. See what freedom Spiritualism has brought into 
the world already ; and it will accomplish still more. 

" I want to refer to the practical lesson which this calling us together presents to my 
mind. It has been said, and truly, that Dr. Brittan was distinguished as an author : he 
answered very many objections, especially those that came from intelligent sources — 
clergymen, infidels, and materialists — and I think he never answered them without satis- 
fying their authors that they were wrong. He was a host against all opponents, for he 
piled fact upon fact, while he had an extensive experience of his own to present, which 
could not be denied. But here is the lesson that I wish to present : You go out into 
the world and find antagonism among almost all persons ; there is very little sociability, 
very little care for you among your neighbours — very little kindness or courtesy — but if 
you look through the published writings and speeches of Dr. Brittan I think you will 
never find a line or a word that is not gentle, respectful, and truthful, and yet forcible and 
earnest. That was peculiarly his character. He was peculiarly social, remarkably genial ; 
and this trait of character entered into all his writings — indeed, into everything that he 
said and did. He was a practical man ; and with all the bitterness that was heaped upon 
us while we were associated, I never heard an unkind word from his lips. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 455 

'Now here is a lesson for us, and I hope that every one of us will receive it and 
appropriate it, for it is needed, especially at this time. We are not living under the old 
dispensation, in which men are condemned to burn for ever if they don't accept church 
dogmas. We live under the dispensation of love and kindness, which requires us to 
endeavour to benefit our brother and our sister everywhere. To be free and to be happy, 
that is the new dispensation. We are witnessing the old Pentecostal manifestations at 
this time throughout the world. How have they spread throughout the world ? Through 
our efforts ? No ! They have spread because spirits have opened communion with 
mortals throughout the entire world, and in the short space of about thirty years. You 
can scarcely find a record in any part of the civilized world which does not show that 
spirit influence is potent among the people. What are we to do ? These truths are 
passing into general belief, and they must be reduced to practice. This is inevitable. 
Spirits are not here simply to talk, but to spiritualize the words and acts of men ; we 
should take in their spirit as far as we can, and emulate the spirit of him whom we have 
gathered here to commemorate." 

We shall conclude ihis humble tribute to the memory of a true and brave 
soldier of the Spiritual army by a few extracts from a letter addressed to 
the president of the occasion by Mr, Henry J. Newton, also one of Dr. 
Brittan's earliest friends, most constant fellow-labourer, and the present 
honoured president of the first Spiritual Society of New York, Mr. New- 
ton writes : — 

" Henry Kiddle, Esq., President American Spiritualist Alliance. 

" Dear Sir, — I regret that, in consequence of physical indisposition, I was prevented 
from doing the part assigned me by the Committee of Arrangements for the memorial 
services in memory of our brother and co-worker, Dr. S. B. Brittan. 

" My intimate acquaintance and friendly relations with Dr. Brittan for many years 
were of such a character that I felt it a duty which I owed to his honoured memory to 
contribute my testimony publicly, on that occasion, to his worth and many virtues. 

" When a man of genius, and a luminary so brilliant, goes down into the valley and the 
deep, dark shadow, and we lose sight of his genial and inspiring presence, we seem called 
upon to bring into active application all our philosophy and knowledge to prevent our 
being overwhelmed with gloom and sadness. The first impulse is to censure Providence, 
who at such a time has bereaved us of a dear associate, and when to us, short-sighted as 
we are, it would seem he could not be spared from his earthly work. But when we 
reflect how little we know what is best, that our beloved brother is at rest, not from labour, 
but from the torturing cares and trials which beset him here, we must bow in humble 
submission to the will of Infinite Wisdom, and try not to complain. 

" It is rare that Nature has been so generous of her gifts — of the qualities that consti- 
tute a pei'fect man — as she was in those which she bestowed upon our friend and brother. 
Dr. Brittan. In him was exhibited our ideal of a perfect gentleman, as understood in our 
free country, where no inherited title forms the whole or any part of what is essential to 
the .meaning of that term. . . . 

"The heroism of our brother was made conspicuous by his daring to face the 
frowns and censure not only of the pubhc, but also of his best and, at the time, of 
his dearest friends. What he sacrificed was not that he might gain renown and 
honour ; those gilded treasures, usually so much sought for and coveted, were wholly 
laid upon the altar, and ofiered up in testimony of his devotion to the truth of his 
faithfulness to his convictions and principles. ... 

" With the exception of a few of his most intimate and confidential friends, none 
knew the thorny path he travelled. A nature like his, sensitive in a marked degree, 
made capable of suffering more keenly than ordinary men by his peculiar organism — 
who can describe his sufferings at times ? It almost seemed sometimes that Providence 
was unfavourable to him and to the cause which he had espoused, so greatly was he 
tried. His four sons were, one after the other, stricken down, torn away from him, and 
their beloved forms laid away in the cheerless cemetery. One of the brightest jewels of 
his household, the one of whom he was especially proud, was offered up a sacrifice upon 
the altar of his country in the war of the rebellion. Yet no word of complaint was ever 
heard to pass his Hps ; indeed, the power with which he at all times controlled the fearful 
tide of emotion, when seemingly overwhelmed with disaster and sorrow, appeared 
almost superhuman. 

" He was sustained by an unbounded, unfaltering faith and confidence in the 



456 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

goodness of his heavenly Father. This faith never forsook him ; it was the rock to 
which he seemed securely anchored, and from which no storm nor tempest, however 
fierce or rude, could for a single instant move him. " Yours truly, 

" Henry J. Newton. 
"New York, Jan. 24th, 1883." 

And last of all, amidst many columns of inspiring records devoted to S. 
B. Brittan's memory by the editor of the Banner of Light, the foUow^ing 
lines seem to form a fitting summary of all that human language has to 
tell :— 

" What Dr. S. B. Brittan wrote of William White at the time of his sudden tran- 
sition may now be aptly applied to himself : ' As we look around us, we miss a 
faithful soldier who wore the armour of Kght. " The sword of the Spirit " was in his 
hand, and he was always on duty. To-day his post seems to be deserted. But when 
the roll of the faithful is called he still answers to his name, and we learn that he 
has been promoted from the ranks of mortals. It is well. A worthy champion of 
the Right and a true lover of his Race — worn with the strife and weary with the march — 
rests from his labours.' " 



CHAPTER LIV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED.) 

In Memoriam. 

As in our last chapter we entered upon the painful task of noting the 
departure of two of the best and bravest generals who have marshalled the 
Spiritual army forward through the wildernesses of superstition and 
materialism, it may be in order to add to the list already commenced, the 
names of some few others of those, once so familiar in the public records 
of Spiritualism, but now only mementos of vacant places which none have 
arisen to fill. Amongst those whose absence has left a deeply-felt void in 
his wide circle of usefulness, is Dr. H. F. Gardner, of Boston, so often 
mentioned in the twenty years' " History of Modern American Spiritualism " 
as the enterprising manager of the Boston Sunday meetings, the undaunted 
champion of Spiritualism throughout Massachusetts, and the gentleman who 
gave the celebrated challenge which compelled certain of the Havard 
professors to institute an investigation into Spiritual phenomena, the 
promised report on which, the said professors have never thought fit to 
publish. 

Soon after the departure of this noble veteran to his well-earned reward, 
he was joined in the higher life by a pioneer of no less worth and celebrity, 
Mr. Horace H. Day, of New York, a gentleman whose many disinterested 
services to the cause of Spiritualism can hardly be suificiently eulogized. 

Mr. Day founded, and for some years sustained by his own munificence, 
a library, several circle rooms, and a paid Medium, Miss Kate Fox, at a 
building hired by himself at 553, Broadway, and entitled, "The Society for 
the Promotion of Christian Spiritualism." 

Mr. Day also published one of the earliest Spiritual papers at that build- 
ing, and there, public circles — held at this gentleman's expense— -were free 
to all who chose to attend them. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 457 

Long after the occupancy of the building was resigned, Mr. Day continued 
to devote his means, time, and influence to the service of SpirituaHsra, with 
an amount of generosity unparalleled in the history of the movement. 

Another bright star that has disappeared from the Spiritual hemisphere 
was E. V. Wilson, the celebrated seer, test Medium, writer, and lecturer. 

It is not too much to assert, that thousands of persons have been con- 
vinced of the soul's immortality and the facts of Spirit communion by the 
indefatigable labours of E. V. Wilson. Worn out, even in the meridian of 
life, by the ceaseless energy with which he followed up his career of speak- 
ing, writing, and test Mediumship, the brave soldier presented arms for the 
last time to the assembled multitudes at Lake Pleasant camp meeting, his 
favourite sphere of summer labour; then shouldering the musket of duty, he 
gained his Western home in time to say farewell to earth, leaving a monu- 
ment behind him inscribed in the grateful hearts of thousands of his fellow 
mortals. And still another noble worker gone home was the Rev. Thos. 
Benning, a pioneer Spiritualist as pure, guileless, kind, and true as any that 
the ranks of Spiritualism could boast of. Many an one has missed his 
kind face from the New York public gatherings of Spiritualists, wherein for 
more than twenty years his wise counsels and fearless testimony were 
esteemed by every listener as bulwarks of the faith. 

Good and much-beloved Thomas Benning was soon followed by his old 
friend and fellow-labourer Dr. John F. Gray, of whom the Banner of Light 
reports as follows : — 

" A BRAVE SPIRIT RELEASED. 

" Dr. John Franklin Gray passed to spirit-life June 5th, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, 
New York City, after an illness of several weeks' duration. He was boi-n in Sherbourne, 
N.Y., September 23rd, 1804 ; entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1824, 
and obtained his degree in 182'5. He soon afterward heard of the system of Hahnemann, 
and upon due experimentation and inquiry becoming satisfied of the superiority of the 
Homeopathic method, he gave in his adhesion to it, being the first ' regular ' physician in 
America who did so. 

" The same degree of manly independence which led him by embracing Homeopathy 
because it appeared the nearest the truth to him to give up a profitable practice, and all 
his professional friends, operated to make him equally bold in his religious convictions, 
and — though we have seen no mention of it in several notices of his death in the columns 
of the daily press — he became a convert to Spiritualism, being at one time a prominent 
leader among the friends of the cause in New York. E. Edson, M.D., of White Plains, 
N.Y., states that Dr. Gray ' hired the first public speaker on Spiritualism in New York — 
hired and paid for a hall, and warmed and lighted the same gratuitously. He was an 
eminent physician, and acknowledged he was assisted by the direction of spirit influences 
in his practice.' He has passed from this sphere of action, where it was his lot to endure 
ostracism and hardship because of his championship of medical and spiiitual reform, to a 
rich reward in the world of spirits — the world that rights all wi'ongs." 

As the procession of the mighty dead of earth moves on to the realms of 
life eternal, another illustrious worker appears, one whose name has been 
sounded as loudly in the ranks of American and European commercial 
enterprise, as in that of the Massachusetts Spiritual ranks. This is none 
other than Alvin Adams, the founder of the famous Adams Express 
Company, and one of the most liberal and untiring friends of Spirituahsm. 

From a long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Adams, the author is 
able to testify that this gentleman frequently acknowledged his deep indebt- 
edness to Spiritualism, both for his religious convictions and worldly 
prosperity. Mr. Adams on several occasions has detailed to the author 
how in a great crisis in the affairs of the immense Express Company, of 



458 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

which he was the principal, he was sent for, in the name of his old 
college companion and early friend, Daniel Webster, then a Spirit, and 
advised, as he valued his name, fame, and fortune, to call upon Mrs. 
Mettler, a celebrated seeress and clairvoyant of Hartford, Connecticut. 

As Mr. Adams at that time had no knowledge of Spiritualism, and Mrs. 
Mettler's name was utterly unknown to him, he at first disregarded these 
warnings. In the course of time however they became so urgent that he 
took an opportunity of calling on Mrs. Mettler, and entering her presence 
as a total stranger, and unannounced, was greeted by what purported to be 
the Spirit of his old friend and legal adviser Webster, and assured that he 
had only just come in time to save his aifairs from ruinous entanglements, 
and perhaps irretrievable loss. 

The entranced Medium was then influenced to enter into business details, 
known, as Mr. Adams supposed, to no earthly being outside of his own 
official circle. During this, and many subsequent interviews, the Spirit ot 
Daniel Debster counselled Mr. Adams, with more than the legal skill and 
acumen he had exhibited in earth life, and Mr. A. asserted that he beheved 
he owed to that providential interposition, much of the success and 
prosperity that placed him on the pinnacle of financial prosperity. Mr. 
Adams on this, and every other phase of Spiritualism, spoke with perfect 
freedom, candour, and gratitude. 

Although of late years he took a less active interest in the maintenance 
of the Spiritual meetings in Boston than formerly, we have the assurance 
that his reticence was the result of ill health and increasing infirmities, 
rather than any diminution of interest in a cause to which he had so often 
and so openly owned his deep indebtedness. The following brief extract 
will suffice to show how the secular papers noticed the well-known fact of 
Mr. Adams's long years of connection with Spiritualism in Boston. It is 
from the Batiner of Light, and reads as follows : — 

" DECEASE OF ALVIN ADAMS. 

" This gentleman, whose name is a household word in all parts of the United States, 
because of his prominence in a widely useful department of mundane business activities, 
passed on from his residence in Watertown, Mass., Saturday evening, September 1st, aged 
73 years. He was born in Andover, Vermont, on the 10th of June, 1804. The success 
of the wide and comprehensive system of transportation known as the Adams Express 
Company was in great jjart due to Mr. Adams's tact and management. His disease was 
known to physicans as hydro-thorax. He leaves two sons and one daughter. We have 
failed to see in any of the city papers which have chronicled his death, reference to his 
being a Spiritualist in behef, but such is the fact, as we have had the assurance from him 
personally, during his life, and he has for years past taken occasion to practically prove 
the force of his faith through pecuniary gifts to assist media, subscribing liberally toward 
carrying on spiritual lectures in this city, etc." 

For many years the Spiritualists of Boston will remember the delightful 
soirees attended by the elite of the faith that were held in Mr. Adams's 
palatial residence ; gatherings made memorable, not only by the hospitality 
of the host, but also by the kindness and geniaUty of the lady of the house, 
the well-beloved wife of Mr. Adams. For a very brief period only, this 
much-attached couple survived each other. In the touching words of the 
poet Wordsworth — 

" He first deceased ; — 
She tried to live without him ; 
Liked it not, and died." 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 459 

Another venerable pilgrim who has passed to the life beyond during the 
last fifteen years was Dr. Eliakim Phelps, the Congregationalist minister, in 
whose house at Stratford, Connecticut, during the very earliest days of the 
Spiritual movement, occurred those tremendous manifestations, in the 
shape of hauntings, and disturbances, that transcended in power and 
continuity any that have been recorded in the history of Spiritualism. 

Dr. Hare, Epes Sargent, Owen, and others, have given vivid accounts of 
these weird manifestations, but the author has often been assured by the 
venerable gentleman himself that no verbal description could do justice to 
the stupendous force exhibited by the invisible powers that for ten 'months 
possessed his dweUing, causing horror and amazement to the harassed 
inhabitants, and producing awe and consternation amongst thousands of 
persons who visited his premises during those stormy times.* As some 
members of Dr. Phelps's family, connected with high orthodox institutions, 
have endeavoured to show that the reverend gentleman before his decease 
had renounced all interest in Spiritual manifestations, and regarded his past 
experiences only as a proof of Satanic agency, we deem it due aUke to the 
best interests of truth, and to the character of Dr. Phelps himself, whose 
memory the author cherishes as that of an esteemed friend and frequent 
correspondent, to give place to the following extracts taken from the Boston 
Evening Trmiscript oi February, 1881, and written by a gentleman well- 
known and highly esteemed in the Spiritual ranks, Dr. A. S. Hayward : — 

"the late dr. eliakim PHELPS. 
" To the Editor of ' The Transcript.' 

" This earnest labourer in the Christian ministry passed to spirit-life from Weehawken, 
N. Y., December 29th, at the rij^e age of ninety years. His son Professor Austin Phelps, 
of Andover, Mass., has printed in the Congregationalist, for some three weeks past, a 
series of articles, under the caption, "A Pastor of the Last Generation," intended as a 
sketch of his father's life-work, religious opinions, etc., and in the course of which he pays 
his father's memory a high tribute of respect for ability, honesty of purpose, and all that 
goes to make up a great and good man. . . . 

" In Part III. he speaks of his father's belief in Spiritualism in a manner that does not 
seem to me to convey the views of that gentlemen correctly, and having had myself some 
facts from Dr. Phelps (the father) as late as 1875 — which facts Professor Phelps (the son) 
had no means of knowing — and believing that they should be madepubhc at this time, in 
order that he (Dr. Phelps) should be put on record coi-rectly, and that Spiritualism may have, 
openly, the benefit of this good man's privately cherished opinions, concerning its truth- 
fulness and use, I desire that you will do me the favour of giving these facts publicity in your 

columns I do not think that Dr. Phelps was bold in advocating his convictions 

as to the truthfulness of Spiritualism, especially among those opposed to it ; therefore it is 
not strange that his son, the professor, did not know to what extent his father embraced 
the Spiritual Philosophy and acknowledged the verity of the phenomena ; but if the 
professor had been present, as I have, at the s6ances attended by his father, and had 
witnessed with what gratification he recognised his spirit-friends, he might have been led 
to the use of different language regarding the views of the deceased than he has of late 
given expression to. . . . 

" Dr. Phelps no doubt looked upon the manifestations, as his son states, as 'a visitation 
from God,' but instead of bowing to them as an affiiction ' in sorrow and prayer,' he 
considered that he was happily blessed with spii'it manifestations of a most remarkable 
character, which convinced him that the two worlds — the material and the spiritual — were 
one unbroken whole, and that communion between the two spheres of existence was a 
fixed fact in the nature of things. His conversion to a belief in Modern Spiritualism was 
of a similar character with that of St. Paul's conversion to Ancient Spiritualism — the 
result of suddenly presented and overwhelmingly satisfactory proofs in the premises. 

^For a full description of these manifestations see Dr. Hare's work on " Spiritualism Scientifically 
Demonstrated." 



46o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

What Dr. Phelps says himself is quite essential upon the point at issue, therefore we will 
quote his own words as follows : ' I have seen things in motion more than a thousand 
times, and in most cases when no visible power was exerted by which the motion could 
be produced. There have been broken fi-om my windows seventy-one panes of glass — 
more than thirty of which I have seen break with my own eyes. I have seen objects, 
such as brushes, tumblers, candlesticks, snuffers, etc., which but a few moments before I 
knew to be at rest, fly against the glass and dash it in pieces, when it was utterly impos- 
sible from the direction in which they moved that any visible power could have caused 
the motion. As to the reality of these facts, they can be proved by testimony a hundred- 
fold greater than is ordinarily required in our courts of justice in cases of life and 
death.' 

•' I met Dr. Phelps at the residence of Dr. Munn, in Philadelphia, Pa., some twenty 
years ago. He then and there related to myself, and others, his experience in spirit 
manifestations, and said that the amount of property destroyed by the invisible powers 
was nothing to him compared to the great benefit he received by and through them ; and 
that after becoming convinced of the verity of spirit communion, guidance, and pro- 
tection, he had preached it. ' But.' said he, ' if I had called it Spiritualism, I should not 
have received support or gained hearers ; while as long as I did not call it by its right 
name it was received as beautiful teachings.' 

" In 1874 Dr. Phelps wrote to me, from New Jersey, asking me to consult a medium 
for him ; adding that he had not for the past year had an opportunity to visit one — 
the last one being in Andover — and desii-ing that I would request that one (if she still 
continued her mediumship) to enquu'e if any of his spirit friends had any messages for 
him. He then remarked : ' I was intimately acquainted with Judge Edmonds, and other 
prominent Spiritualists now in spirit life.' 

"He further spoke of his spirit relatives, and said they used to keep him apprised of 
important events, sometimes years before they took place. He closed his letter by s^i^ying : 
' If she should obtain anything, and write me, she will confer on me a special favour.' 
I laid the doctor's petition before a highly sensitive medium, with the following result." 

It would be needless to give the communication which followed, and 
which Dr. Phelps acknowledged to be characteristic of its alleged Spiritual 
source. Dr. Hayward's letter to the Transcript concludes thus : — 

" In the year 1871, Dr. Phelps wrote an interesting essay for publication upon the 
practical value of clairvoyance in detecting disease, and the practice of ' laying on of 
hands,' or magnetic treatment, to eradicate diseased conditions from the human system. 
I caused the essay to be printed, with his consent, but the authorship was, at his request 
— as far as the public was concerned — to remain a secret until he had joined, by decease, 
the loved ones in the spirit- world. 

" If Dr. Phelps had been brave enough to stem the tide of opposition, and had declared 
boldly his views to the world, it might have been better ; but still, his blameless life and 
(acknowledged) marked experiences may, after all, constitute an incentive to inquiry into 
the important matter which interested him so much, on the part of other religious 
teachers who have the courage ' to face a frowning world ' in defence of whatever con- 
victions they may arrive at." "A. S. Hayward." 

" Boston, Mass." 

Dr. J. Bryant, a celebrated Spirit Medium and healer ; Mrs. H. M- F. 
Brown, the well-known and talented editor of the Cleveland Agitator ; 
David C. Densmore, the indefatigable proprietor of the paper called The 
Voice of Angels ; Mrs. M. A, Amphlett, an excellent pioneer trance speaker ; 
Colonel Danskin, the father of Baltimore Spirituahsm, and one of the 
most philosophic thinkers and writers in the ranks ; kind, good, hospitable 
Mrs. Maynard, the Medium's friend, in whose genial home in Buffalo every 
toiler in the Spiritual vineyard found a mother's greeting ; good Charles 
Levy, the devoted friend of Spiritualism in St. Louis ; and Willie Daven- 
port — poor, tired, over-worked, and much-abused Willie Davenport ; these 
are but a few of the transfigured ones who now begin to muster in serried 
lines, and pass in the phantom panoramas of memory before their saddened 
friends' eyes, leaving the ineffaceable marks of their mortal footprints upon 
the age, although their well-remembered forms lie mouldering in the grave ! 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 461 

Sometimes one or two of these heroic Spirits fall out of line, and stand 
like a Colossus alone amidst the thronging hosts; and then we pause to note 
the speciahties that distinguish them, and marvel if we who are left behind, 
shall ever look upon their like again. We are thus attracted to Willie 
Davenport, the youngest of the celebrated brothers so often written of, so 
often misunderstood, and misrepresented. He passed away in Sydney, 
New South Wales. His lonely brother Ira, had much difficulty to obtain 
leave to erect a monument to his dear companion's memory, because he 
determined to have upon it a sculptured device representing the time- 
honoured cabinet and other paraphernalia which recalled poor Willie's 
earthly work and frequent .martyrdoms. Ira succeded at last, but he 
might have spared himself the contest. The young man's monument is 
already set up in the ineffaceable lines which Spiritualism has made on public 
opinion. 

Hear what his fellow-labourers reported of Willie Davenport in the 
Spiritual journals : — 

" William H. Davenport numbered an earth-life of thirty-six years to the present time, 
and has been a medium for the past twenty-three years. In company with his brother Ira, 
under the name and style of the ' Davenport Brothers,' or ' Boys,' they have traversed 
nearly every quarter of the globe : Europe, the East and West Indies, South America, 
Australia, New Zealand, and other widely separated points being marked on the chart of 
their wanderings, while there is scarcely a town of any size in the United States where 
they have not given practical witness of the gifts they possessed. We have had frequent 
occasion to call the attention of the public to the achievements of these media in the 
past, and at a time when in all probability the hand of physical change is about to close 
their labours, at least conjunctively, it is but just to briefly revert to that which they 
have been privileged to accomplish. 

" They have appeared successfully before the kings, queens, and great ones of the Old 
World, and have created among them a marked impression, which has in some instances 
been outwrought in action ; they have sowed seeds of truth in the minds of the common 
people which have borne fruit in many cases of more than an hundred fold ; thousands 
having been converted through their mediumship to a belief in sjjirit return, and a 
knowledge of the future life awaiting every human soul. As an evidence of the con- 
vincing character of their mediumship it is necessary only to refer to the back files of this 
paper, and particularly to the account of the bigoted and violent treatment dealt out to 
them in England on their first visit, when they were under the charge of Rev. Jesse B. 
Ferguson, of Tennessee (since deceased), as agent, and the triumphant victory which they 
attained at last. May those intelligences with whom he has so long regarded himself as a 
co-worker — notwithstanding all rejjorts to the contraiy — be with the departing member 
of this celebrated fraternity, and lead his weary footsteps along the green pastures and by 
the still waters of spiritual peace ! " 

Two more of the earHest pioneers of the great movement pass singly in 
the procession of mighty ones, each too distinguished as individualized 
workers, to be lost in the crowd. They are the Rev. William Fishbough 
and Dr. Robert Hallock. The last that was heard of good Mr, Fishbough 
on earth, were these words /// memoriam. 

"dr. WILLIAM FISHBOUGH. 

"Funeral services over the earthly remains of Dr. Fishbough took place, at his late 
residence, Brooklyn, N.Y., on the evening of Monday, May 23rd. The Times of that city 
states that although it had been announced that the funeral was to be a private one, the 
many personal friends of the deceased crowded the house to overflowing. Among well- 
known citizens present were Rev. Mr. Gunnison, ex-Superintendent Kiddle, and other 
friends from New York and Brooklyn ; and a delegation of forty ladies and gentlemen, 
members of Phoenix Division Sons of Temperance, of which deceased had been chaplain 
for some years past. The floral tributes were very handsome, a pillow of roses with the 
word ' Father ' being at the head of the casket ; another, the ofi'ering of the Division, 



462 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

having tlie words ' Our Chaplain.' There was also a column of flowers upon which a star 
shone prominently, and at the foot were three sheaves of wheat, emblematic of the 
deceased's age and life. 

" We are indebted to Mr. S. B. Nichols for the following tribute to the memory of our 
departed friend and co-worker, and report of remarks made on the occasion of his funeral 
obsequies : — 

"'in MEMOEIAM — DB. WILLIAM FISHBOUGH. 

" ' Another veteran Spiritualist, Dr. William Fishbough, passed on to the immortal 
home, suddenly and under peculiar circumstances, Friday evening. May 20th. He passed 
the evening away from home, and his wife on retiring for the night left a light burning 
in the front basement. On waking in the morning she found that he had not returned, 
and on going to the front basement door she found his lifeless form. Coming home late 
he had made a miss-step and fell, striking his head against the window sill and crushing 
his skull — a sad and mournful ending of a long and useful life. On Friday morning 
when he came to the breakfast table he told a curious dream that he had had in the night. 
He said he dreamed that the point of his gold pen that he used for his writing was worn 
out so that he could not use it any more ; and I am informed that he never did write 
another stroke. Was this a premonition of his sudden transit to the spirit- world ?' " 

Amongst many another v^^ord of warm eulogy from friends who had known 
and loved this truly good man none can render him more justice than the 
statement, that he was the scribe that wrote down the famous work of A. J. 
Davis, then a rustic uneducated lad of sixteen years — " Nature's Divine 
Revelations ; " that he, William Fishbough, was one of the most patient 
and able sub-editors of the first Spiritual paper ever pubhshed, the New 
York Spiritual Telegraph ; he was also the author of the noble and philo- 
sophic work " The Macrocosm and Microcosm," besides innumerable maga- 
zine articles, all redolent of the scholarly intellect and pure spirit of a wise 
and good man, 

To do justice to Dr. Hallock, his life of devotion and splendid service to 
the cause of SpirituaHsm, would be an attempt so difficult, that we shall 
leave his name as we find it — enshrined in the hearts of the multitudes 
who loved and admired him. A few lines of obituary notice we will how- 
ever reprint from the London Medium^ Dr. Hallock being scarcely less 
known and appreciated in England than amongst his own American 
countrymen. The Medium of February 19th, 1879, says: — 

" IN MEMORIAM. ROBERT T. HALLOCK, M.D. 

" Translated from Earth to the Higher Life of Spirit, January \ith, 1879, 

" One more of the little band, who have laboured in the Cause of Spiritualism, and 
whose names were associated with the inception of the Movement at the time of the 
' Rochester rappings,' has been gathered to his home. Full of years and full of honour, 
revered and beloved by all who knew him, our departed brother has left behind him the 
blessed memory of the just, and the memorial of a blameless and well-spent life. 

"Dr. Hallock was born seventy -three years ago, of Quaker parentage, at Milton, on' 
the Hudson — his father and grandfather being preachers in the Society. In that faith 
he was nurtured, but its rigid tenets proved unacceptable to his progressive spirit, and on 
his arrival at manhood, he cast them aside, and the reaction landed him in Materialism. 
He was too essentially spiritual, however, to find any rest in negation, and in due time, 
as his powers developed, SpirituaHsm claimed him, almost naturally, as an adherent of 
its elevating philosophy. 

" In 1851, having then moved from Utica, where he had practised medicine, to New 
York, he joined Robert Dale Owen, Judge Edmonds, Dr. Gray, and Mr. Charles Part- 
ridge in the investigation of the phenomena which are known to history as the ' Rochester 
knockings.' He gave to the subject the patient and intelligent care which it was his 
habit to bestow on everything that engaged his attention, and became convinced that he 
had found the light for which his spirit longed. From that time to the day when he was 
emancipated, by a painless and blessed change, from the prison-house of the body, he was 
a staunch and consistent Spiritualist. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 463 

" He founded the first Spiritualist Society of New York, of which he was president, 
and the Spiritual Conference, from which, during his residence in New York, he was 
seldom absent, and where his vacant chair, draped in black, tells eloquently of him, who, 
' being dead, yet speaketh.' His sympathies were not bounded even by the wide field so 
open to them. He was a powerful anti-slavery advocate, and a founder and prominent 
member of the Liberal Club, up to the time when the summons came to him at its meet- 
ing on the I7tli of January last. 

" In his efi"orts for the emancipation of the slave he stood by the side of "Wendell 
Phillips, Gerrit Smith, and William Lloyd Garrison — names that the world has learnt to 
honour as foremost in the rank of humanitarian effort. 

" The method of his departure was sudden, and not unaccompanied by circumstances 
of peculiar distress to his sorromng relatives. He had attended the Friday evening 
meeting of the Liberal Club, and left his place before the discussion commenced. In the 
ante-room he was heard to fall, and medical assistance was at once forthcoming from some 
members in the audience. He was suffering from a sudden spasm of the heart, a malady 
to which he was liable. He was conveyed to his home, and everything that loving care 
could do was gladly ministered. 

" All, however, was in vain, and in a few hours he had quitted the sufiering body and 
was free." . 

Still the procession of dearly-remembered faces moves on, and now 
another star of the brilliant galaxy shoots up rays of light far above the 
level of the passing groups, challenging — nay, compelling attention. The 
name of the shining Spirit is Epes Sargent. 

Fortunately or unfortunately for Mr. Sargent, his connection with 
modern literature both in the departments of prose and poetry, procured 
for him so many complimentary notices from the press of Europe as well 
as of America, in which his Spiritualistic works were as carefully ignored, as 
his secular writings were faithfully chronicled, that his name requires the 
aid of two sets of biographers to render it full justice. Several interesting 
notices of Mr. Sargent's life work and varied abilities have appeared since 
he passed from our midst, none of which equals in eloquence and fidelity 
that given by the celebrated English writer " M. A., Oxon," in the London 
Psychological Review. 

As this admirable sketch cannot possibly be transferred in extenso 
to these columns, we must content ourselves with a concise summary of 
Mr. Sargent's eminent life services, as published in the London Spiritualist 
of May, 1.870. The editor says : — 

" Mr. Epes Sargent, whose name has long been in the list of our correspondents, was 
a native of Gloucester, a picturesque maritime town, twenty-eight miles from Boston, 
U.S.A. While he was yet a child he entered the Public Latin School, where, in the study 
of Latin and Greek, he stayed five years, with the exception of six months which he 
passed in making a visit with his father to Denmark and Russia. 

" Returning to America, he resumed his place at the Latin School, and soon afterwards 
was admitted a student of Harvard College. He did not, however, remain there till 
graduation, but accepted a situation as assistant in the editorial department of The 
Advertiser, a Boston daily paper. Subsequently his services were transferred to the Daily 
Atlas, where he had opportunities of passing a part of the year at Washington, during 
the sessions of Congress, as political correspondent. Here he was admitted to the 
familiar personal acquaintance of Webster, Ciay, Calhoun, Preston, Chief Justice Marshall, 
and other eminent public men. With Mr. Clay, senator from Kentucky, and candidate 
for the Presidency, his relations were especially intimate, and he wrote a life of him, 
which was largely circulated, and edited with additions by Mr. Sargent's early friend, 
Horace Greeley. Journalist and man of letters, Mr. Sargent seemed now to have chosen 
his career. He was for some years a resident of New York, where he edited The Mirror, 
The Neio World, and other publications quite flourishing in their day. He also wrote and 
edited several works for the Messrs. Harper, which had good success, and led to pleasant 
relations with that house. He was on friendly terms with Poe, Bryant, Halleck, Wash- 
ington Irving, N. P. Willis, Longfellow, and also with Charles Dickens during the latter's 
sojourn there. 



464 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" Mr. Sargent wrote several plays which achieved a fair share of success. He edited 
the Boston Daily Transcript several years, and the Modern Standard Drama. He put 
forth the Standard Speaker, with three supplementary books of elocutionary selections 
and translations, the success of which was very marked. These were followed by three 
series of reading-books, a book of original dialogues, and a much-praised work on 
etymology, forming twenty-two volumes in all. They are still largely in use in American 
schools. 

" During the civil war he appeared for the first time as a public speaker, and made 
some spirited speeches, which were widely copied, and served a pati-iotic purpose. They 
drew forth letters of warm congratulation from Charles Sumner, one of the friends of 
his boyhood. Mr. Sargent also wrote a popular novel, entitled Peculiar, published by 
Carleton, New York, and of which sixteen thousand copies were sold. 

"In 1868, having suffered from a bronchial affection, Mr. Sargent was advised by his 
physician to pass the winter in the south of France ; and he established himself at Cannes, 
on the Mediterranean. During his brief stay in England he made the personal acquaint- 
ance of Mr. W. M. Wilkinson, Mr. Thomas Shorter, Lady Caithness, Mr. William White, 
Dr. Ashburner, and other prominent Spiritualists. He also renewed his acquaintance 
with Mr. Benjamin Coleman and Mr. D. D. Home, the distinguished medium. Professor 
Francis W. Newman, author of many much esteemed works, who had long been his 
correspondent, was also now personally sought out and greeted. 

" To Spiritualists Mr. Sargent's connection with the modern Spiritual movement 
will be perhaps of more interest than his literary career. His attention was drawn 
to Mesmerism about the year 1837, when he was in his twenty-fourth year. He had 
witnessed in Boston the experiments of Dr. Collyer. Soon afterwards, in New York, 
he had opportunities of studying the subject in his own way. Dr. Channing, a well- 
known physician, introduced him to a sensitive, the phenomena in whose presence he 
studied for two years under circumstances that precluded the possiMlity of deception. 
By the exercise of his own volition he satisfied himself of the mesmeriser's power over 
his subject. Of clairvoyance, thought reading, insensibility to pain, through Mesmerism, 
he also became fully convinced. . When the phenomena at Hydesville broke out in 1847, 
he was editing the Boston Transcript, and through its columns did much to direct public 
attention to the subject. 

" Having thus become finally convinced of the basic truth of Spiritualism, he omitted 
no opportunity of passing on the truth-torch to others. In 1867 he published a succinct 
history of Modern Spiritualism, under the title of " Planchette ; or. The Despair of 
Science," a title which hardly does justice to a work so earnest and couiprehensive as this 
really is. In spite of its title, however, it has passed through four editions, and is still in 
demand. The Rev. Austin Phelps, D.D., refers to it as ' written by the most scholarly of 
the American defenders of Spiritualism.' Mr. William Crookes wrote of it in 1874, 
" Planchette ' ' was the first book I read on Spiritualism, and it still remains, in my opinion, 
the best work to place in the hands of the uninitiated.' 

" In 1875, Mr. Epes Sargent put forth ' The Proof Palpable of Immortality,' a volume 
of 238 well-filled pages, devoted chiefly to the materialization phenomena, but also to the 
discussion of moral and religious questions pertaining to Spiritualism. In 1876 he wrote 
a reply to Professor Tyndall's severe attack on Spiritualism, a reply which attracted great 
attention in America, and was hailed as 'the right word at the right time.' He also 
wrote (1877) the article on Spiritualism for Appleton's new 'Encyclopaedia.' 

" These works give but an imperfect idea of Mr. Sargent's activity in the cause of 
Spiritualism. By his contributions, some under his own name, but most of them 
anonymous, in various journals, English and American, and by a very extensive cor- 
respondence, he has been indefatigable in his attempts to convince an unwilling world 
that there is in and around us something more than Materialists would have us to 
believe." 

Such a record as this needs no comment ; it is one of which any indi- 
vidual might be proud ; one which reflects lustre on any cause graced with 
such an adherent, and which should for ever hush the rude tongue of those 
who virtually say the Spiritualists are all fools and beUeve in a delasion, or 
all knaves, combined in the effort to delude the world. 

Last but not least of the shining throng whose name makes many a heart 
stir with loving and regretful memory is the kind and gentle wife of the 
celebrated Spirit postmaster, Dr. J. V. Mansfield. 

It seems but yesterday since the author parted from this dear friend, then 
in the prime of a life devoted to unnumbered deeds of good and use. This 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 465 

last February, 1883, brings the tidings that she has passed on, ere the spring 
flowers could shoot up to adorn her silent bier. She will be missed in the 
places of gathering, in the dwelHngs of the poor, in the home she loved so 
well, and in the hearts of hundreds, who whilst following her bright Spirit 
to the better world, will realize a void left on earth that none can fill. 

Of Mrs. Mansfield more perhaps than of thousands better known, though 
not less highly appreciated, the homely lines may most truthfully be said — 

" Earth has one angel less. 
Heaven one angel more." 

It is only now, as these pages are going to press, that we hear through a 
private source of the apotheosis of Dr. J. R. Newton, the greatest magnetic 
healer, and one of the best men that ever wrote his life work on the flesh 
and blood tablets of grateful loving human hearts. 

Extended notices of this beneficent being's manifold services to humanity 
will be found in another chapter, and presently every Spiritual paper in 
every land of civilization will teem with eulogies upon his name. But 
neither single notices, nor world-wide eulogies can chronicle the boundless 
good that Dr. Newton has done. A mortal pen may record how many 
bhnd eyes he has opened, how many crippled limbs he has straightened, and 
how many diseases that flesh is heir to have departed at his bidding, but to 
sum up the joy and gratitude with which he has filled thousands of human 
hearts in this generation, would require the pen of eternity's recording 
angels — none else should essay the task. It is enough to say he passed 
away in a ripe old age — ministered to by the most loving of human com- 
panions, and his soul has ascended to the spheres of eternal light freighted 
with the blessings of uncounted multitudes. 

After numbering up the leaders of the Spiritual army who have disappeared 
from our mortal eyes during the last fifteen years, and allowing for many 
more, less known, whom we cannot catalogue, some of those secular readers 
whose eyes we confidently expect to glance over these pages, may enquire, 
after what fashion the Spiritualists are accustomed to celebrate those 
obsequies which they claim rather to be birthdays of the soul into a higher 
life, than ceremonials darkened with hopeless gloom or mysterious dread. 

As a sample of these services, which time, place, and circumstance of 
course may often modify, we shall terminate this chapter — written strictly 
in tnemoriam — with an account of an obituary ceremony which will be long 
remembered in San Francisco, California. 

The subject of this memorable occasion was Captain Francis Connor, 
commodore of the line of steamers plying between San Francisco and 
Oregon, a brave and gallant officer, who, though not himself a Spiritualist, 
was blest with a fair wife who was, and still is, one of the most devoted 
advocates of the Spiritual cause. 

In the beginning of the year 1880, Captain Connor accompanied his wife 
to Charter Oak Hall, San Francisco, to attend the Sunday lectures of Mrs. 
Hardinge Britten. On quitdng the hall, after the evening service, Captain 
Connor said to his wife, " If Mrs. Britten should be anywhere accessible 
when I die, I should like her to preach my funeral sermon," 

Within a few weeks from the time when this remark was made, the life- 
less form of Captain Connor was brought into San Francisco harbour, by 
the boat that he had commanded, on board of which he had suddenly 
breathed his last, on his homeward voyage, after a few hours' illness. 

The high character of this noble gentleman, the respect and esteem that 
30 



466 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

he had won from all classes, but especially from the steamship company of 
which he had been one of the bravest and most devoted captains, were 
circumstances that created so deep an impression upon the citizens of 
San Francisco, that every craft in the harbour lowered its flag half-mast 
high, and the citizens shut their shops, and draped their doors with mourn- 
ing emblems, as the procession which bore the remains of the gallant 
commodore passed through the streets. 

In a few days, the devoted and high-souled wife of Captain Connor, had 
applied for, and obtained, the use of the splendid Unitarian Church, built 
for the late Rev. Thomas Starr King, of which Captain Connor had been 
an honoured member, as a fitting place in which to celebrate his obsequies. 
Mrs. Connor, without reserve, announced her intention of fulfilling her 
beloved husband's wish to the letter, by engaging Mrs. Hardinge Britten to 
conduct the services. In deference to the kindness of the trustees in 
granting the use of the church, the regular pastor was invited to assist in 
the ceremonial, but as sickness confined this gentleman to his bed, he sent 
a letter of condolence to the noble widow, and appointed the Rev, Mr, 
Kraig as his substitute. 

At the close of the services, the congregation, numbering some three 
thousand persons, according to the custom prevalent in America, walked in 
orderly procession round the church so as to pass the bier and altar, both' 
of which were covered with floral emblems and devices wrought with 
immense masses of the choicest flowers. 

Thus the procession moved on, enabling each one to take a farewell look 
at the calm features of the gallant sailor. When the long files had passed 
out of the church, vast throngs, to the number of four thousand persons, 
who had been unable to obtain admittance, were marshalled in order, and 
permitted to walk round the church, pass through the area filled with 
blossoms, and silently greet the well-known features of the peaceful dead. 
Never was such a procession on such an occasion gathered together before 
in San Francisco. Never a more orderly or deeply-moved crowd marched 
through those long aisles, or lingered in regretful silence around the remains 
of mortaUty. 

Thus ended one of the most impressive funeral services ever remembered 
in San Francisco, the only one wherein the scene was a popular church, 
the ofliciating minister a woman, and the day of death celebrated as the 
day of new birth. 

The following press report of the ceremonial and the address delivered 
by Mrs. Britten was published in the San Francisco Daily Chronicle, and 
is given now as a sample of a Spiritual funeral address : — 

"spiritual services. — FUNERAL OF THE LATE COMMODORE FRANCIS 
CONNOR, AT SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 

" Eloquent oration delivered hy Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten. 

" On March. 28th the remains of Commodore Francis Connor, of the Oregon steam- 
ship line, were borne into the First Unitarian church by eight uniformed officers of the 
steamship Oregon and deposited in front of the pulpit, amid a white sea of choice and 
fragrant floral wreaths and emblems, among which was a steamship, constructed of heho- 
trope and violets — emblematic of his inviolate devotion to his calling. 

" Eev. Dr. Kraig read selections of Scripture, promising spiritual immortality, and 
the choir chanted Psalm xxiii., ' The Lord is my Shepherd.' Then Mrs. Emma Hardinge 
Britten, standing in front of the pulpit, at the head of the casket, offered this earnest 
invocation for divine help and guidance, after which she delivered, under inspiration, the 
following deeply impressive and touchingly eloquent spiritual address : — 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 467 

" ' Thou Infinite and Eternal Spirit ; Father, God ; Lord of life and death ; author 
and finisher of being ! Lo, Thine hand is heavy on us in this trying hour. As we stand 
in the valley of the shadow, we hear Thy voice calling home our heart's beloved, and our 
spirits faU us, as we listen to the summons which removes from our mortal vision the 
father, friend, the strength, the consolation of many a pilgrim in eart.h's rough and rugged 
pathways. Bat even now, as we bend beneath the v^eight of our mighty sorrow, whilst 
our strength is laid low, and the voice that has spoken the word of power to the weak, 
and comfort to the helpless is hushed for ever, oh, teach us that Thou art stUl the 
strength of our weakness, light to our blindness, the true and unfailing consolation of 
every heart that trusts Thee. We know it is Thy voice that speaks to us through the 
eternal silence that has closed these mortal lips, bidding us pause and consider the solemn 
lessons which death alone can teach. Oh, trusted but most eloquent Teacher ! As we 
stand in the presence of Thy white angel, Death, and still the throbbings of our beating 
hearts, to hear the message that he brings, we uplift our souls to Thee, Thou only 
strength and consolation, and learn to lay the burden of our cares and griefs on Thee, who 
alone canst bear them. Help us, oh, heavenly Father ! and clear away the mists of sorrow 
from our eyes, that we may discern the footprints of the beloved one, in his pathway to 
the land of light. Help us to retread the tracks of honor, truth, and duty that he has 
left behind. Captain of our salvation ! Pilot of souls ! Thou who hast steered Thy 
beloved one's barque to the port of eternal safety, be with us now ! 

" ' We see, with streaming eyes and arms outstretched in pain, the receding light of 
the white and flowing sails as his ship of earthly life is fast drifting out of view. The 
thickening mists of death have closed around him, and we are left alone, straining our 
faUing sight to catch faint ghmpses of the glory in which our vanished friend has cast 
eternal anchor. Oh, thou great spirit ! Pole star of every drifting craft freighted with 
frail humanity ! Teach us how to cry out to thee with heart and voice. We trust thee, 
oh, our father, in life as in death, in darkness as in light, in this, our home of hximan grief 
and weakness, as in the more peaceful days of life's full blossoming. We know that all 
is well with him who has gone before. We know that he has gained the shores of endless 
day and waves aloft the banner of immortal triumph over death. The veil of mortal 
being, so dense to us, is luminous to him, and from the Mount of Vision we know that he 
still watches, -with an angel's tender pity, the bereaved and mourning friends who linger 
yet behind and bear the burdens he has dropped. We know the Immortal stiU loves, and 
that He is all — aye, more than all— he ever was or could be to those who love him still. 
Thou, who dost make the very roses thy preachers, help these faltering lips to tell of the 
joy and glory he has gained. Show to those mourning ones, the radiant mountain of 
transfiguration to which the angel Death has raised him. Help us to kiss and bless the 
rod that smites the human heart, but sets the Immortal free, and once more teach us aU 
to cry in spirit and in truth, ' Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for ever and 
for ever.' 

" ' Friends, we meet this day to celebrate the birthday of a soul into the life immortal. 
Fifty -three years ago there was a birthday of another sort iu the home where this ascended 
soul first saw the light as a helpless, wailiug babe. Born into the Life of earth, where care 
and toil are the milestones at every step of the weary way ; with all the bitter pangs of 
humanity's stupendous warfare looming up before him, still he was ushered into being 
without one tear or sigh to mar his welcome. No prophetic voice of warning spoke of the 
thorny road those infant feet must tread. The mother's heart was full of joy, and rejoic- 
ing friends hailed the young stranger's advent on life's stormy sea, without one sad 
misgiving. 

" ' And now, when we know how well, how nobly life's battle has been fought and 
won, how gallantly he's run the race God set before him, and gained the victor's prize of 
a well-earned immortality, shall we fail to bid the triumphant soul God speed, or stay 
with a single murmur the hand of the liberty angel that sets the ripened spirit free ? 
Kather let us strive to follow the shining sails of his true life's ship to that glorious port 
of rest where the storm is hushed for ever and the sun-Ut waves of joy are beating on the 
shores of eternal Hght. Whilst he who is transfigured from the clay of earth to the 
spiritual glorj which oiir dim mortal sight cannot penetrate, the mute and touching 
eloquence of the form we have beheld in all the panoply of life and strength so strangely 
still, so dumb and sUent now — all, in short, of the solemn mysteries of death — prompt us 
us to inquire their meaning and pause in the giddy rush of life to ask of God, the quiet 
dead, and one another. What has death done to this, our friend and brother ? The ways 
of the Infinite One must ever be mysterious to the minds of His finite creatures, but in 
His mercy he has taught us enough by that we do know to trust Him in all things of 
which we are yet ignorant, and amongst the brightest revelations of our present day and 
hour are those that have stripped the grave of all its teiTor, death of its awe and mysteryj 
and shown to the weeping eyes of bereaved humanity its precious dead in aU the glorious 



468 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

reality of life immortal, and death itself to be but the archway to the higher, better, 
happier spirit land. Another of our Father's gifts to man has been the message of love 
brought by the very beings nearest to us. They point to the wealth we gather upon 
earth, the splendour that we fondly lavish upon the crumbling dust of those we've loved, 
and remind us that all must be left behind, and that the spirit takes not with him the 
value of death's shroud in material treasure. And yet it is given to us to know there are 
many mansions in our Father's house ; wealth and possessions there ; power and strength 
and noble work to do ; joyful duties to fulfil, and Hfe, with all its glorious energies and 
powers, continuing the woof of being from the point where death has snapt it. If this 
be so, and these revelations of the Hfe beyond are now re-echoing through the wide, wide 
world, truly we may lift up our hearts in joy and triumph when we recall the noble record 
that our friend has made and count up the freight of duties well performed with which 
his gallant ship has sailed away to heaven. Besides the early years of his brave and 
useful pubhc service, the Hves of thousands have been entrusted to his skill and care, and 
the fortunes no less than the safety of countless multitudes, have hung upon the 
faithful performance of his untiring watch and ward. 

" ' The captain of many a ship destined to plough its way on the roughest seas and 
brave dangers which none but the weU-skilled mariner could conquer, none but those 
" who go down to the sea in ships " and track their way through the pathless wastes of 
ocean can understand the perils of the deep — the ceaseless cares and toils, the sleepless 
vigils of the stormy night, passed neath the rayless skies, 'midst the howling tempest, 
drenching rain and piercing cold, whilst the lives of multitudes were hanging in the 
balance on the captain's skill and care. And yet we know that out of Ms brave hands no 
single life was ever lost. In Ms clear record there's no black mark of duties unfulfilled, 
no employer wronged, no murmuring crew oppressed, no friend forsaken, no stranger left 
unaided. 

" ' Not one soul he ever knew or served with but what would have united in crying, 
" God speed our gallant captain to his well-earned rest. If ever seaman ploughed his way 
to heaven he is the man ! " Staunch and true ! Brave man, great heart, gallant sailor, 
faithful servant of the King of kings ! He watched and waked while others calmly slept. 
He thought and thought, and battled with the stormy seas, and wrestled with the 
elements until they became his subjects ; and whilst the fiery scriptures of the skies 
stretched out above his head their canopy of glory, he read their solemn lessons in tireless 
duty, and worshipped his Creator in noblest service to his fellow men. My friends, the 
last, best lesson which this wondi-ous preacher. Death, has taiight is, as we thus render 
the noble record of this gallant life, to emulate its beauty, retread the deep, strong foot- 
prints he has made — not in the " sands of time," but in the hewn-out rock of grand 
en eavour ; and the last best lesson which the great outpouring of the spiritual hosts have 
brought us, is the sweet, consoling truth, that nothing that is good and true and beautiful 
in manhood can ever be marred by death. 

" ' God gathers up the beautiful, and He who cares for the falling sparrow and clothes 
these blossoms with their wondrous beauty, has treasured up the blossoms of his noble 
life, and only left the dross and dust to death. "We cannot make him dead," the gallant 
sailor ! For mates, companions, friends, he is still the same, though a watcher now on a 
fairer, calmer sea. For the dear companion, he is still the tender guardian of her precious 
life ; for the earth and man and all he's lived and toiled for, he's a guardian angel now, a 
ministering spirit, making our path more bright, our way more plain, our lives more holy 
and nearer heaven, because a good and faithful man has lived and died. He may, he 
must, have left a void which none can fill again. Many will miss his helpful, outstretched 
hand, and she — his best beloved one — will miss the coming foot that was ever prompt to 
hasten to her side ; but she knows, as we do, he lives and loves and watches over her now. 

" ' The veil of earth, transparent to the eye of spirit, is only dense to us who linger yet 
behind it, but when we know, as God in His mercy shows us through His angels risen, 
that the form that sleeps the sleep that knows no waking, is not the man we've loved — 
that death has no power upon him, that he lives and stands in our midst this very hour, 
with all that made the man, and the added glory of life immortal, why should we weep or 
sigh, or put on the weeds of mourning ? Why should we wish him back, or stay the hands 
that lay away the garments in the grave, and leave the guardian angel of the home behind ? 
Remembering all we do know of the shining seas our loved ascended brother is sailing 
over now, surely we can trust our Heavenly Father in the yet veiled realms of mystery 
hidden from our yiew. '' He doeth all things well," and though the golden bowl of mortal 
life is broken, the silver cord of earthly duty loosed, the pitcher broken at the fountain 
and the wheel broken at the cistern, we can bow and lean in calm submission, look back 
in high emulation at the record of a well spent life, and forward with triumphant joy that 
he's reached the goal, from which his loving hand will beckon us to follow onward. Oh, 
niay the memory of this hour be ever green amongst us ! May the record he has made, 




HoNB^? S.S.Jones, Chicago, u.s 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 469 

the wealth of freight with which his ship of Hfe was laden be a never dying remembrance 
to us to strengthen us in the hour of trial ; encourage us to speed on amidst thorns and 
briars to the goal of victory he has gained, until we meet and greet him in the land where 
the angels have welcomed him with the glorious cry. " Well done, thou good and faithful 
servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord." And now it but remains to put away with all 
reverence the faded garments an immortal soul has worn. Lay down to rest the crumbling 
form of clay. With tender reverence give back to earth the pale, white form of earth. 
Put out the earthly lamp ; he will not need it more. Quench the dying flame. Nor heat 
shall burn nor biting frost consume the happy dwellers of the summer land. Let dust and 
blossoms sleep in the tranquil gi-ave, while the shining soul inhales the deathless perfume 
of the flowers that bloom in the land of never setting suns. The last rites paid, the last 
farewell *aid, the honoured dust closed up from mortal sight, commit we all that's left to 
the silent grave, and bid God speed to the new-born son of heaven with the sweet, familiar 
closing words of love : " Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy 
kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily 
bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. And 
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the 
power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen." ' 

" After the hymn, 'Rock of Ages,' by the choir, Mrs. Britten again said : 'Before we 
listen to the benediction, which closes these sacred rites, in the name of the wife and 
friends of the good and true man whose spiritual birth we celebrate, I tender earnest and 
heartfelt thanks for the deep reverence, earnest feeling, and kindly sympathy manifested 
by every friend and stranger gathered together in this hallowed ceremonial. Above aU, I 
offer on my own behalf, and that of those nearest and dearest to our beloved commander, 
our grateful thanks to the trustees of this church, who, in their kindness and generosity, 
have granted us the use of this sacred place for the performance of our last and holiest duty 
to our honoured dead. 

" ' Whilst memory lasts we shall ever cherish the tokens of deep sympathy, which, for 
one brief hour at least, have bound together this vast multitude in the ties of a common 
humanity. I know it has been to you, as to me, and aU of us, a grateful task to r' ^er 
the best tribute in our power to the memory of a great, good man. Your presence jd 
kindly feeling have helped to strengthen me in the performance of a sad, though pleasi" ^ 
duty, and almost changed bereavement into gladness. Let us all go hence cherishing in 
our hearts the memory of the brave and true ; seeking to shape our lives like his to the 
line of duty ; striving to bring home to earth's last waymark a record as clear and true 
as his has been, and commending ourselves to the Father of all with the reverent cry, 
" Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, now and ever more." ' 

" The services closed with the recitation of a poem, and the benediction by the Rev. 
Dr. Kraig." 



CHAPTER LV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED). 

Spiritualism in the Law Courts. 

We must now call attention to a few cases in which prominent Mediums 
and Spiritualists were cited to appear before those tribunals, too often 
/a/j-<?/>' called "the bar of justice." The two instances narrated in this 
chapter are the trial of Dr. J. R. Newton, the renowned Spiritual healer, 
on the charge of "malpractice," and that of Mr. William Mumler, who was 
tried for " fraud," alleged to have been practised in the production of " Spirit 
photographs." 

The circumstances which led to the charge against Dr. J. R. Newton 
were these. 

It seems that a little girl who had been carried to Dr. Newton's office 



470 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

during his visit to Philadelphia in the hope of obtaining relief for a chronic 
affection of the spine, had been instantaneously cured, but on quitting the 
good doctor's presence, she became so excited with the dehght of her 
marvellous restoration, that in running down stairs her foot slipped, she 
fell, and at the same time sustained a fresh injury to the spine. 

It was rumoured that some of the child's nearest relatives were bitterly 
opposed to Dr. Newton's method of cure, and had been heard to declare, 
that they would rather see her in her grave than cured by this Satanic agency. 
Whether the good healer's numerous opponents in the medical profession 
availed themselves of this opportunity to press home a charge that they 
could not have attempted to make with more sympathetic persons than 
those above alluded to, we need not pause to enquire ; certain it is, that 
the occasion was used by certain members of the faculty for instituting a 
prosecution against the all too celebrated and popular healer on the charge 
of "malpractice." 

The true animus which stimulated this absurd and wholly untenable 
charge was soon apparent enough to the whole community and the matter 
would have terminated with the slight annoyance inflicted upon the benefi- 
cent healer, had it not been evident that the mighty powers who have the 
Spiritual movement in charge, used this opportunity to produce results as 
acceptable to the friends, as they were unforeseen by the enemies of 
Spirituahsm. 

Before the case was concluded, the magistrate in attendance was com- 
pletely besieged with witnesses who poured in from all parts of the United 
States to the number of many hundreds, volunteering testimony to the 
marvellous cures that had been effected in their own persons, or those of 
their friends, by the divine, rather than the mc/-practice of Dr. J. R. 
Newton. The court-room, the street, and at last the very city itself, was 
thronged with these unsolicited and deeply-grateful witnesses, and where 
personal attendance was impossible, hundred of affidavits testifying to Dr. 
Newton's marvellous cures, were sent in. Weeks and even months would 
have been required to receive the evidence thus volunteered. A summary 
termination of the vexatious prosecution was of course imperatively 
necessary. Before it could close however, the papers — in reporting the 
evidence received — had pubHshed long lists of cures which but for this 
malignant attack might have remained unrecorded for ever, except in the 
experience of private famiUes and individuals. 

With the accounts of these cures, came reports of the numerous bene- 
factions which the good healer had performed, many poor people clamour- 
ing to be heard, and relating how he had added gifts of money to his 
healing powers, in cases where the recipients had scarcely dared to expect 
that so great and celebrated a man would even notice them. 

We have suggested that the "flood of testimony thus cited must have been 
unforeseen by the prosecutors. We may venture to add, that it must also 
have caused the blush of shame to mount to many a cheek when it was 
found that the very plot designed to crush the great healer was the means 
of recording his good deeds to an age that would otherwise have been 
ignorant of them. 

Although it would be impossible in this volume to give more than a very 
small percentage of Dr. Newton's wonderful achievements, the full details 
of which are in the author's possession, we select from the Ust of affidavits 
printed on the occasion above alluded to, a few brief representative 
examples such as the following : — 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 471 

" I, Mary Ann Rumer, testify and say that I am twenty-nine years of age, and live in 
Unionville, Chester County, Pennsylvania ; that for eleven and a half years I had been 
troubled with a spinal affection, which, with a complication of other diseases, confined me 
to my bed, and during the whole time I was a great sufferer from constant pain. For the 
last two years I subsisted almost entirely on water gruel. I had been treated by several 
physicians without any permanent benefit. On the 22nd of October, 1862, I was brought 
to Dr. Newton on a litter, in so feeble a condition that it was thought by my friends I 
could not live to reach the house. I was entirely unconscious, and I was so low that I 
could not be carried to the Doctor's room, so he treated me at first in the hall. I was 
then carried to his room, and within half an hour I was able to walk around the room and 
down stairs. The next day I was treated again by Dr. Newton, and a perfect cure effected. 
From the time I had the first operation, my appetite has been perfectly good, and I have 
ever since been able to eat heartily, and am now in good health. I have come to this city 
expressly to bear testimony to the wonderful cure of myself, for the benefit of suffering 
humanity, MARr A. Rumee. 

" Affirmed and subscribed before me, this 5th day of March, 1863. 

" Wm. p. Hibberd, Alderman," 



" I, John Corkery, testify and say that I am 72 years of age, and live at No. 1013, 
Carpenter Street, Philadelphia. I have been partially blind for 22 years ; one eye I could 
not open at all, with great inflammation of the lids. My eyes had been operated upon by 
eminent physicians several times with absolute injury, until I became almost entirely 
blind, when, in the month of October, 1862, I heard of the wonderful cures of the eyes 
made by Dr. J. R. Newton, and was induced to visit him, when, after two or three opera- 
tions, the inflammation entirely disappeared, and I was able to open my eyes and could 
see as well as most men of my age. He also restored my heai-ing, which I was fast losing, 
and I am now able to see and hear as well as most folks, and my general health has im- 
proved astonishingly, so that I appear twenty years younger than I did four months ago. 

John Coekeht. 

"Affirmed and subscribed before me, this 5th day of March, 1863, 

"Wm. p. Hibbeed, Alderman." 



" My daughter, twelve years of age, had lost the use of her Umbs from scarlet t * er ; 
she was perfectly paralyzed. When I took her in my arms her head and feet hung per- 
fectly useless, powerless. I brought her to Dr. J. R. Newton. With three treatments of 
less than one hour altogether, she was perfectly restored to health, and jumped rope, and 
came to her mind and intelligence as well as ever. She had many physicians of all 
kinds of practice, and I paid them a great deal of money, but they could not restore her. 
During her paralysis she could not keep any food upon the stomach, she is now in perfect 
health. I live near New Brunswick, N. J., and came here to give my testimony. 

" Saeah E, Tueqtjand. 

" Sworn and subscribed before me, this 4th day of March, 1863, 

" Wm. p. Hibbeed, Alderman." 



"I reside in Harrisburg, Pa. ; have been afflicted with rheumatism since 1820; part 
of the time have been so bad that I was drawn quite crooked ; the least cold I took would 
so affect me with lameness that I was obliged to use two canes to enable me to walk. I 
was also afflicted with internal bleeding, and after every other practice had failed of giving 
me any relief, I was induced to place myself under the treatment of Dr. J. R. Newton, 
which I did on the 26th of November, 1862, from which time I have enjoyed perfect 
health. He also cured me of varicose veins at a subsequent treatment, and at this time 
there is no appearance of any return of the above afflictions. 

" I have also witnessed a number of cures performed upon others while I was under 
his treatment. One case, where a man came on crutches, in a miserable condition, in less 
than fifteen minutes he was able to walk, and in twenty minutes he ran across the floor 
and down stairs, leaving his crutches with the doctor, 

" Another case : A coloured female was cured of paralysis, her hand being entirely 
useless. In less than ten minutes she was entirely restored, being able to hft a chair 
above her head with ease. " C, F, MuENCH, 

" Sworn and subscribed before me, this 4th day of March, 1863. 

" Wm. p. Hibbeed, Alderman," 



"I live in Woodbury, New Jersey. On the 21st of August, 1862, I was advised by 
Dr. Gardiner to call and see Dr. Newton for a cancer on the cheek, just below the eye. 



472 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

I did call as directed, and the doctor (Newton) treated me for it, and it is now perfectly- 
cured. I had the cancer eleven years, and suffered pain all the time ; now there is not 
even a scar remaining. " William V. Mankin. 

" Affirmed and subscribed before me, this 4th day of March, 1863. 

Wm. i*. HiBBERD, Alderman." 



" John Herbert sworn : I am forty-sis years of age, and reside in West Philadelpliia ; 
am engineer at the Blockley Almshouse. I suffered for weeks at a time with inflammatory 
rheumatism ; for the last two years, at times, could not turn in bed ; suffered severe 
pain ; it would pass from one part of my body to another ; had a number of physicians, 
but had no permanent relief, my feet much swollen. In ten minutes' treatment by Dr. 
Newton the swelling left my feet, and I was reUeved of all pain and swelling. This was 
in December last ; I had a second operation of about the same time in the fore part of 
February, I think, and since that have been entirely well, and have no return of the 
disease. "John Herbeet. 

" Sworn and subscribed before me, this 4th day of March, 1863. 

" Wm. p. Hibberd, Alderman." 



" My son, William Gary, son of Marmaduke Watson, Principal of the Price Grammar 
School, was for some time afflicted with spinal curvature, being unable to walk without 
great difficulty. His limbs were very much swollen, and he was rapidly getting worse, 
until he saw Dr. J. R. Newton, who operated upon him and perfectly cured him. He can 
now walk six miles without pain or inconvenience. 

"Mary E. Watson, No. 1766, Frankford Road. 
" Affirmed and subscribed before me, this 4th day of March, 1863. 

''Wm. p. Hjbberd, Alderman." 



"March 4th, 1863. 
" Andrew J. Hay : Live at Manayunk ; my wife for three years was unable to read, 
write, sew, or anything of the kind, by reason of debility of the optic nerve. Some time 
in November, 1862, I took her to see Dr. J. R. Newton, who operated upon ber eyes. 
Before leaving his room she read several verses of Scripture, and has been able to read 
and write ever since ; her general health being also much improved. 

" Andrew J. Hat, Pastor First Baptist Church. 
" Affirmed and subscribed before me, this 4th day of March, 1863. 

Wm. p. Hibberd, Alderman." 



" Peter Manning, being sworn, deposes and says : I live at Bordentown, New Jersey. 
On the 30th of October, 1862, I called on Dr. J. R. Newton. I was blind two years and 
three months. When I came to Dr. Newton I was so bad that I could not see a gashght 
in front of me ; after ten minutes' treatment, without pain, I was enabled to see to read 
and write, and have kept my own books ever since. " Peter Manning. 

" Sworn and subscribed before me, this 4th day of March, 1863. 

Wm. p. Hibberd, Alderman." 



" David AUen, being affirmed, deposes and says : I live in the city of Burlington, N.J. ; 
am in my 67th year of age. I have been troubled many years with spine disease ; and in 
February, 1861, I had a fall and broke my hip ; had been under the care of an eminent 
physician for six months ; for a year and nine months could not walk without a crutch ; 
the hmb was stiff, and painful to move. After fifteen minutes' treatment by Dr. J . R. 
Newton I could use the limb as well as the other, and have never used the crutch since. 

David Allen. 
"Affirmed and subscribed before me, this 4th day of March, 1863. 

" Wm. p. Hibberd, Alderman." 

We would ask our readers to bear in mind that the cases cited above and 
selected at random from one of the Philadelphia papers, only constitute 
about one per cent of the records now in print, many of which — in the 
author's possession — relate to persons still Hving, or those whose relatives 
are ready to give sworn testimony of the most authentic character. We 
have already alluded to Dr. Newton's beneficent work in England, and 
must now leave to other records a more detailed account of this great 
healer's marvellous acts of use and blessing to suffering humanity. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 473 

The next instance in which all the powers of wealth, position, and public 
influence could be brought to bear against Spiritualism and its representa- 
tives, was in the prosecution of the well-known Spirit photographer, Mr. 
WiUiam Mumler, at the instance of the proprietors or editors of a New 
York journal, entitled, The World. 

As the details of this trial, besides being reported in full in the Spiritual 
journals, were given " as a curious item of news," in hundreds of the leading 
journals of America, we present to our readers a brief summary of the case, 
as reported in one of the most authoritative and widely-circulated of the 
American " dailies," namely, the New York Tribune. The article quoted 
dated April, 1869, commences thus : — 

" In all the annals of criminal jurisprudence, there has seldom, if ever, been recorded 
a case analagous to that just tried before Justice Dowling, in the Tombs Police Court, 
in which the People were the prosecutors, and Wm. H. Mumler, of No. 630, Broadway, 
the defendant. The specific charge against Mumler was, that by means of what he terms 
Spiritual photographs, he has swindled many credulous persons, by leading the victims 
to believe it was possible not only to bring back the departed spirit, but to photograph 
their immaterial forms. ... 

" The apnouncement that the examination of the case would be continued on Monday 
last, drew together a large and miscellaneous audience, including a number of the most dis- 
tinguished of the believers in, and propagators of, the doctrines of SpirituaHsm, many 
legal gentlemen, curious to note the points of law wliich might arise during the trial, and 
a sprinkling of ladies, believers evidently, who watched the proceedings with an interest 
scarcely exceeded by that of the party principally concerned. The examination was held 
in the Special Sessions Court Room ; members of the bar, distinguished Spiritualists 
(among them Judge Edmonds and Mr. Mc Donald), and the ladies, being accommodated 
with seats inside the railing. 

" The principal defendant, Mr. Mumler, a man of about 40 years of age, with dark hair, 
beard, and eyes, and olive complexion, was seated next to his counsel, Messrs. J. T. 
Townsend, and A. Day, and appeared perfectly calm and self-possessed, ready at 
a moment's notice to whisper to his counsel a question touching some important 
point which he desired to elicit from the witness. Mumler's face is one of the few 
from which one fails to gather any trace of character. It is calm and fathomless, and 
although it would be harsh to say that it is unprepossessing, it is yet a face which one 
would scarcely be able to believe in at first sight. 

" The People were represented by Mr. Eldridge Geary, and the first witness called was 
Marshall Joseph H. Tooker, through whose instrumentality the spiritual photograph 
business was brought to the notice of the authorities. He deposed that in consequence 
of information from Mr. P. V. Hickey, of The World, the Mayor had ordered him to 
' look up ' the case, which he did by assuming a false name, and having his photograph 
taken by Mumler. After the taking of the picture the negative was shown him, with a 
dim, indistinct outline of a ghostly face, staring out of one corner, and he was told that 
the picture represented the spirit of his father-in-law. He, however, failed to recognize 
the worthy old gentleman, and emphatically declared that the picture neither resembled 
his father-in-law, nor any of his relations, nor yet any person whom he had ever seen or 
known. The other portions of Marshall Tooker's testimony were published in The Tribune 
at the time of the alleged swindle, and therefore it would be useless to recapitulate. 
With this testimony the prosecution rested. . . . 

" In the first part of the defence, several photographic experts were called, who testi- 
fied that without choosing to avow themselves Spiritualists, or having any interest in 
defending Mumler, they had received spirit photographs from him, and could not either 
account for the pictures of deceased friends they had received, or find any reason for 
accusing him of fraud or deception. One of the most notable witnesses summoned, was 
Judge Edmonds, who gave his testimony to the following eSect : — 

" ' I have known Mr. Mumler some two or three weeks. On the occasion of my 
becoming acquainted vdth him, I had gone to his gallery with Dr. John F. Gray and a 
Mr. Hunt, on the invitation of the former, to have my photograph taken. I had two 
pictures taken — [Two photographs shown. The photographs were very fair pictures of 
the Judge, each having near the upper right hand corner, a dim outline of a female face, 
sufficiently distinct, however, to shew that the lady was very beautiful. It would appear 
that spiritual manifestations abounded on that occasion, for the faces on these pictures 
are entirely different, although both are charmingly pretty.] ' Judge Edmonds here became 



474 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

retrospective, and detailed several facts and circumstances relative to spiritual pKoto- 
grapliy which had come to his knowledge many years ago. Eeturning to Mumler he 
said : ' I know a great many persons who have visited Mumler, some of whom have met 
with astonishing success in procuring spirit pictures of departed friends. Mr. Livermore, 
of Wall Street, has been pecuKarly successful.' [Another photograph shown, this time a 
fine-looking young man, seated in a pensive attitude, with his eyes cast downward. 
Behind his chair, and leaning over his head, is the spectral white-clad form of a lady, 
whose hands rest on his shoulder. This is the most remarkable of the photographs 
exhibited in court, from the fact that the photographers present declared that by no 
means known to them, other than the bodily presence of some one behind the chair, 
could the picture of the lady's hand be produced.] .... 

" Cross-examined : ' At the time my picture was taken there were present Messrs. 
Gray, Hunt and Mumler. I watched the operator closely while he was taking the 
picture, but could detect no fraud. I believe that the camera can take a photograph of a 
spirit, and I believe also that spirits have materiality — not that gross materiality that 
mortals possess, but stUl they are material enough to be visible to the human eye, for I 
have seen them. Only a few days since I was in a court in Brooklyn, when a suit against 
a life assurance company for the amount claimed to be due on a certain policy was being 
heard. Looking toward that part of the court-room occupied by the jury, I saw the 
spirit of the man whose death was the basis of the suit. The spirit told me the circum- 
stances connected with the death ; said that the suit was groundless, that the claimant 
was not entitled to recover from the company, and said that he (the man whose spirit 
was speaking) had committed suicide under certain circumstances. I drew a diagram of 
the place at which his death occurred, and on showing it to the counsel, was told that it 
was exact in every particular. 

" ' I had never seen the place nor the man, nor had I ever heard his name until I 
entered that court-room ; the appearance of the spirit was shadowy and transparent.' 

"Mr. Jeremiah Gurney, of No. 707, Broadway, testified : 'I have been a photographer 
for 28 years. I have witnessed Mumler's process, and although I went prepared to 
scrutinize everything, I could find nothing which savoured of fraud or trickery ; it was 
the usual process of preparing a plate for taking a photograph, the only thing out of the 
usual routine being the fact that the operator kept his hand on the camera.' 

" Mr. James E. Gilmore, an author whose no^m de plume is ' Edmond Kirk,' was next 
called. He testified : ' During last month I was requested by the author of Harper's 
Weekly to investigate this spiritual photography afiair, and write an article regarding it. 
I called on Mr. Mumler, stated my business and desired to investigate the workings of his 
process.' 

" The witness then describes Mumler's method of taking pictures, and concluded by 
saying : — ' I could detect nothing unusual in Mumler's operations, though I watched him 
closely while preparing the plates and the camera, and finally went with him into the 
darkened room where the pictures were developed.' " [This witness received three spirit 
photographs.] 

Mr. Elmer Terry, and Mr. Jacob Kingsley, were the next witnesses 
examined, and both, after the most severe cross-examination testified to 
Mr. Mumler's entire candour in submitting to be watched at every turn, 
and to the production of Spirit portraits on their photographic plates, both 
visiting the artist as total strangers. 

Mr. Paul Bremond, a well-known writer, and a gentleman who has held 
many responsible public positions in the West and South; Mr. David 
Hopkins, a manufacturer of railway machinery, and a great many, other 
witnesses of respectability and good standing, then testified to the receipt 
of Spirit portraits recognized by their friends as well as themselves, and all 
described the searching investigations to which, in their presence, Mr. 
Mumler not only cheerfully submitted, but often invited. One of the most 
interesting pieces of testimony afforded in this trial was that rendered by 
Mr. Charles F. Livermore, a gentleman of wealth and high social standing 
in New York, and one whose evidence seemed all the more independent 
from the fact that he was not an avowed Spiritualist. Mr. Livermore said, 
in the course of his examination : — 

" ' I sat five times in succession. I think that the first two sittings amounted to nothing 
but a shadowy background. I made the same examination that I had previously ; I 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 475 

found a scrjeen,. made I should think, of white cloth, standing about two feet from the side 
of the wall. I went behind it, but there was no one there. The screen was directly 
behind me when I sat down. Mumler was in the room ; I accompanied him before the 
operation into the dark room, and saw him pour the collodion upon the plate. I changed 
my position each sitting. One showed the picture of a lady standing behind me, bearing 
a bunch of iiowers in her right hand, which was resting upon my shoulder. , . .' He 
then showed another, which, in answer to the counsel, he said he recognized ; [continuing] 
' I examined the camera after this, but could see nothing out of the way. ... I did 
not discover auy fraud or deception, or anything that looked like it. I was cautioned 
against him as a trickster by some friends in Boston. Mr. Mumler was very pohte and 
gave me every chance of investigation ; he said he could not guarantee anything.' 

" To Mr. Geary : ' I paid Mr. Mumler $20 ; he only charged me SlO, but I gave him 
$20 because I was so satisfied. These pictures, so far as their identity goes, are satis- 
factory. It is a very remarkable phenomenon.' 

" Q. Who is this figure on the picture ? — A. It is my wife ; she died eight years ago. 
I have a picture of her in my possession, and I may have seen the picture every day. It 
is hanging up in my bedroom ; but not in that form. It is a plain figure. I have two 
portraits besides. I see them every day. 

" Q. Do you see anything to cause an identity, except the faces ? — A. Nothing, except 
the general size. 

" Q. Do you recognize any peculiar expression about the face ? — A. Nothing more than 
the general one — nothing more than the general outhne ; the third picture was taken a 
few minutes after the others. 

" What do you recognize in this ? — A. It is unmistakable ; the recognition was perfect, 
not only with myself, but with all my friends." 

Several other witnesses were called, both ladies and gentlemen. Their 
testimony was all to the same effect as that quoted above. After which, 

" Mr. Day said : We can produce many others to show an identification of friends, and 
that there is no deception, but I suppose there is no necessity for bringing forward any 
more. 

" At the next sitting of the Court Mr. Mumler read the following statement : — 
" 'In 1861, in the City of Boston, while engaged in business as an engraver, I was in 
the habit of visiting a young man who was employed in a photographic gallery kept by a 
Mrs. Stewart, on Washington Street. Occasionally I would experiment with the instru- 
ment and chemicals. One Simday, while entirely alone in this gallery, I attempted to 
get a picture of myseK, and then it was that I first discovered, while developing it, that a 
second form appeared on the plate. At this time I had never heard of spirit pictures, 
althotigh I had been somewhat interested in the doctrine of Spiritualism. At first I 
laboured under what is now the general impression — that the plate upon which the picture 
was taken could not have been clean, and that the form which showed itself beside my 
own must have been left on the glass ; and I so stated to my employers and others. Sub- 
sequent attempts, however, made under cii'cumstances which preclude such a possibiUty 
have confirmed me in the belief that the power by which these forms are produced is 
beyond human control, and the experts that have been called by the People have failed to 
produce a picture made in that manner. I wish to state that at the time I developed the 
shadow or form above aUuded to, I was a complete novice in the art of photography, and 
had no experience whatever in the composition of chemicals used in the business, and 
that my use of them in my experiments at that time was simply in conformity with 
what I had seen my friend do, while himself engaged in his business. After getting the 
form, at the suggestion of several friends to whom I showed the plate, I made other 
attempts, and generally with most remarkable results ; I then determined to leave my 
own business and devote myself to photography ; before long the subject of spirit-pho- 
tography, and particularly my success, became the theme of every tongue, and I was 
overrun with enquiries, and obliged to go over and over again the routine of taking and 
developing the pictures. For a long time I never refused any person who came to in- 
vestigate : it soon became apparent, however, that I must either stop or cease to support 
myself, for, as a general thing, these savants, while greedy themselves for intellectual food, 
seemed entirely obHvious to the fact that I myself was a material body. (Laughter.) 
However, I can truly say that I have never refused, intentionally, any person who desired 
to have a picture taken from making every examination they chose to make, and had I 
been allowed to have produced evidence fi'om abroad, I could have sho%vn by scientific 
men, whose names would have satisfied every one, that the most careful and minute 
examinations have often been made into all the details of my business while I have been 



470 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

engaged in taking pictures ; I solemnly assert here that I have now but comparatively 
little knowledge of photogi-aphy or chemicals, or science of any kind, further than is 
absolutely needed to take ordinary photographic pictures ; I positively assert that in taking 
the pictures on which these forms appear, I have never used any trick or device, or availed 
myself of any deception or fraud in producing them ; that these forms have appeared in 
each and every instance when they have been presented without any effort, except my 
wiU-power to produce them. 

" ' As to my refusal to entertain propositions from the self-appointed committee of 
photographers who appeared in my room since my arrest, and who desired, as I am in- 
formed by Mr. Gray, to make me take pictures for them, whether I would or not, I have 
only to say that since my arrest I have placed myself entiiely in the hands of my counsel, 
and have been guided by his advice. One of the first cautions he gave me was to refrain, 
during the examination, from being led into any trap of that kind ; having been charged 
with a crime which, temporarily at least, placed me before the pubhc in the same category 
with gamblers and men of that ilk, I have been dei^rived of the privilege of having my 
utensils examined at the time of my arrest.' (Here Judge Dowling said : I was applied to 
to have your tools seized, but refused to have it done because I disapproved of such pro- 
ceedings.) Mr. M. continued : ' If I had been engaged in such nefarious proceedings as I 
am charged with, the implements themselves would have been the strongest evidence 
against me. They have stood ever since in the position they have always occupied in my 
gallery.' 

" Mr. Townsend, on behalf of the defendant, first addressed the Court. After an able 
introduction, Mr. Townsend directed his Honour's attention to what appeared to be the 
legal aspect of the case. He then entered into the evidence given by the respective 
witnesses for the defence. ' Mr. Mumler has obtained spirit pictures in strange places, on 
other instruments, and Tsith strange chemicals. The pictures thus obtained have been 
recognized by the sitters, in many instances, as deceased friends and relatives. Mr. Gray 
has been present many times when they were recognized. Judge Edmunds recognized 
one.' (Here the learned counsel gave a synopsis of the testimony, making commentaries as 
he proceeded.) He continued : 'Five hundred persons could have given similar testimony 
to those who had been called for the defence. Mr. Mumler has been here but a few 
months, and it is wonderful that so many respectable people would come vdthout demand. 
He obtained pictures of persons dead, who had no pictures taken during life. He took 
these pictures sometimes without even touching the camera. He took his pictures through 
a yellow Hght, with no gas. There is no evidence that Mumler pretended to do what he 
knew to be false, and consequently the whole element of the crime is wanting. Mumler 
may be wrong in saying he can give a spirit picture, but that does not constitute a crime, 
unless he knew he could not give one. Upon the prosecutor's own showing, this 
case must be dismissed. It will not change a believer, or prevent one from believing. 
Spiritualists will stand by him at all hazards to the utmost extremity. The case in a 
Court of Justice should be looked upon simply as one of law. But suppose these defences 
should fail, we come to our af&rmative defence, namely (1), that spirit pictures can be 
taken. It has been proved that pictures of the dead have been taken. (2) That such 
pictures have been taken where there was no picture of the deceased in existence . These 
two things have been distinctively, positively sworn to by unimpeachable witnesses, and in 
a judicial proceeding such as this, that testimony must control, unless it has been over- 
borne by countervailing evidence. Now let us look at this countervailing evidence. It is 
proved that shadowy, ghost-like pictures can be produced by other photographers. Every- 
body acquainted with photography knows that to be so ; it has never been denied by us ; 
Mumler' s circular says that. But stiQ the question remains — and it is the real question 
in the case — can such shadowy pictures as produced by others be pictures of the dead ? 
But even against the testimony for the prosecution, which was theory, we have direct 
practical evidence ' 

" Mr. Townsend then remarked, that if all Spiritualists were insane, there must be a 
great deal of insanity in America, for statistics showed that in the United States there 
were 11,000,000 of ^Spiritualists to 10,000,000 of other denominations. After pursuing 
his arguments in a theological light, Mr. Townsend concluded his most able and eloquent 
peroration. 

" Mr. Geary then rose ; and after expressing his admiration of his adversaries' argu- 
ment, said : ' This is no private prosecution. One of the gentlemen connected with a 
public journal of this city examined into these so-called spirit photographs, satisfied that 
a large swindle was being perpetrated ; he called to it the attention of the Chief Magis- 
trate of this city, who at once directed his Chief Marshal to make a personal investigation. 
Hence any assertion that private malice instigated these charges is as baseless as it is 
untrue.' He then elaborately reviewed the whole of the evidence for the defence. 

" After criticising the testimony of other witnesses, Mr. Geary continued : ' Now what 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 477 

does all this prove ? Why, that the trick was so cleverly done that not even photo- 
graphers could discover how it was done. That very many persons of ordinary intellect, 
competent to conduct the every-day business of life, went to the prisoner, paid their 
money, received these spirit photographs, and (Polonius Hke) fancied they recognized 
likenesses of their departed friends, and therefore believed the prisoner's statement. 
There is no proof of any spiritual agency, only evidence that certain persons believe it to 
exist. Man is naturally superstitious, and in all ages of the world, impostors and cheats 
have taken advantage of credulity to impose on their fellows less sharp than themselves.' 
Mr. Geary then accounted for the testimony of Judge Edmonds and Paul Bremond on 
the theory of hallucinations, which aifected Lord Byron, Cowper, and Goethe. He then 
showed the application of the principle in the present case. He asserted that probable 
cause had been shown to warrant the commitment asked for. 

"At the close of the address the Judge' said, after careful attention to the case, he had 
come to the conclusion that the prisoner should be discharged. He would state that 
however he might believe that trick and deception had been practised by the prisoner, 
yet as he sat there in his capacity of magistrate, he was compelled to decide that he should 
not be justified in sending the defence to the grand jury, as, in his opinion, the prose- 
cution had failed to prove the case." 

The following letters have appeared in the Tribune on the same subject: — 
"can a spirit be photographed? 

To the Editor of the Tribune. 

" Sir, — It is sometimes a thankless task to expose villany. It is always a thankless 
task to throw yourself against a popular belief with nothing in your hand but a new 
truth. Mr. Mumler may be a villain. I do not know the man. I never saw him. If 
he is a trickster his villany is of the darkest hue, for he speculates on the holiest instincts 
of men. I have nothing to do with Mr. Mumler. He may be honest, or the court may 
find him a swindler. The questions raised in this trial do not turn on the innocence or 
guUt of one man. 

" Can a spirit be photographed ? Whether Mumler be acquitted or convicted, most 
intelligent men wUl say 'No.' Ask them why, and they cannot tell you. They have 
certain vague ideas of a spirit as something incorporeal. They dismiss the question with 
an d, priori. One day, in a conversation with Herbert Spencer, I told him of certain facts 
which had led Alfred Wallace to a belief in the nearness of a world of spirits, and the 
communion of spirits with mortals. Mr. Spencer met the facts by saying that he had 
settled the question on a priori grounds. Wallace is one of the first naturalists of Europe. 
He tells me he has seen and heard certain things ; and I, making my own experience a 
measure of the universe, dismiss his testimony as contradicting nature. Is that the 
method of modern philosophy ? . . . . 

"In February, 1867, I formed the acquaintance of a photographer living in the Con- 
necticut Valley. I had gone to his rooms for a photograph. While sitting for the pic- 
ture, I saw that the artist was strangely agitated. When the plate was developed a 
bright but vapory female form appeared, standing at my side. I had never heard of 
Mumler or spirit photography. I asked the photographer how that form got on the 
plate ; he did not know ; he could only say that while he was photographing me he saw 
that woman standing at my side. He did not want the picture taken from his gallery, 
and wished me not to speak of it. He told me that now and then, for years, he had 
taken such pictures ; that they came through no agency of liis ; that he could take them 
almost any time by yielding to the control of beings which he believed to be spirits, but 
he wanted nothing to do with it. ' He would not have his name mixed up with 
Spiritualism in any form.' 

" I had such confidence in my friend's honesty, that I wished to make an investiga- 
tion of this strange power. It was only after many interviews and much urging that he 
consented to give me sittings, and yield to the 'invisibles.' I ofiered to pay him gene- 
rously for his time, but he declined any consideration, saying that he could not be 
tempted to use this mysterious gift for gain. He gave me every facility in making the 
investigation. I took a friend to assist me. We had his time for four afternoons. We 
had the utmost confidence in him, but made the investigation as if he were a trickster. 
I assisted in preparing the plates, and stood by while the pictures were developed. We 
took every precaution to prevent or detect trickery. At almost every sitting we got the 
photograph of a woman — the same bright, vapory form that appeared when I went alone, 
or thought I was alone ! And at almost every sitting the photographer was partially 



478 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

entranced. What shall we say ? He is a man of position and character. I would as 
soon think of flinging the charge of falsehood against the Chief Justice. He had no 
motive to deceive. He would not sell his gift for money. If I believed him capable of 
falsehood, still I should be unable to account for the pictures The photo- 
grapher, myself, and my friend were the only persons in the room. Could we have 
been deceived for four days by shallow tricks ? And if we were deceived, how did the 
confederate who personated the spirit make herself transparent ? How did she suspend 
herself in the air ? for one of these photographs is the picture of a woman floating down 
through the air. . . . 

" Another case came under my notice. A young girl in Chelsea called on one of the 
leading photographers of the city to have some tintypes taken. He was about to close his 
rooms for the day. The girl sat, and while the picture was taking, she felt a blur coming 
over her eyes. She sjDoke of it to Mr. A., who was standing by the camera. He told 
her she might 'wink, but she must sit still. When he developed the plate, a pair of hands 
appeared on each face ! There were eight faces on the sheet. This photograph is very 
remarkable. I have examined four of the impressions, and have one of them in my 
possession. The hands are clasped around the girl's neck. They are shown up to the 
wrist, where they fade away into a formless vapor. They are transparent. One hand 
comes down over the girl's chin, and you see right through it the perfect outlines of the 
chin. There is a wonderful family likeness to all these pictures. Judge Edmonds testi- 
fies that the spirits he sees are transparent ; and one of the leading Doctors of Divinity 
of New England (Orthodox) tells me that he sees spirits in the same way. 

" Now you cannot sujDpose that these hands had been photographed on the tin before. 
The photographer tells me that he used a new sheet. Suppose I do not believe him. How, 
then, did the hands appear over the face ? Can you suppose the hands wer* photographed 
after the girl ? You will see that the little finger and the ring finger on the left hand are 
thrust under the girl's collar. You must say, then, that the girl and hands were all 
taken together. And now, did some one steal in and clasp her hands around the girl's 
neck, and still elude the eye of the artist ? He tells me that no one was in the room but 
himself and the girl. Suppose some one did steal in — how did she make her hands 
transparent, and conceal the rest of her body ? The photographer is a man whose word 
no one will doubt. He tells me that he had never thought of spirit photography ; that 
he has no theory ; that he only knows the hands came through no agency of his. 

" Now, gentlemen — you have not settled these questions on a •priori grounds — can you 
escape the conclusion to which I have been driven ? 

" That men and women — spirits, but not incorporeal — can, under certain conditions, 
clothe their persons with elements sufficiently tangible to reflect light. 

" While reading a report of the the trial of Mumler, and finding lawyers trying to 
break the testimony of witnesses because of their belief in spirits, I thought of the words 
of a living German philosopher : ' No one who has eyes to see can fail to remark that the 
belief in the immortality of the soul has long been efi'aced from ordinary Hfe.' We swear 
a witness on the Bible, and then impugn his testimony if he believes in spirits ! — beheves 
that the writers of the New Testament were not mistaken when, on almost every page, 
they speak of spirits, and admonish us ' to try the spirits !' Whither are we drifting ? 
How would an item like this appear in The Tribune ? 

" ' The Bishop of Khode Island has written to the Bishop of New York that three men 
whom he had known in Providence appeared to him, and talked with him, after their 
decease. The Rhode Island Bishop thinks that bad spirits can personate good ones and 
deceive us ; but he is confident these three spirits were really his friends. 

"Our table-talk over such an item would be a measure of our departure from the 
faith of primitive Christianity. For the Bishop of Rhode Island put Exodius, a Bishop 
in Africa, and for the Bishop of New York put Augustine, and for the nineteenth put the 
fourth century, and you have an historical truth." " W. D. L. 

"Boston, Mass., April 26, 1869." 

The closest attention is called to the following still more important 
letter :— 

" To the Editor of the ' Tribune.' 

" Sir, — The question has been frequently asked during the Mumler trial, ' Why, if 
it be not a deception, cannot he produce his pictures in some other establishment than his 
own ?' 

" In answer, I beg space for a brief statement of facts within my own knowledge and 
experience. With a desire to fully investigate this subject, I invited Mr. M. to visit 
Poughkeepsie. He accepted, and on the 30th of March last came to our rooms. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 479 

" I had, previous to his visit, made every arrangement possible for a full investigation, 
removing all old negatives from my operating rooms, preparing fresh plates from glass 
never before used, and putting everything in a shape to prevent or detect any attempt at 
imposture. A reward of $50 was offered by me to any of our employes who should 
succeed in detecting any trickery or deception. 

" Mr. M. entered our operating room without any previous preparation or appliances 
whatever, and with the camera, chemicals, &c., in daily use by us, and under the closest 
scrutiny of my operator and myself, produced at once his so-called spirit pictures. In 
three instances during our experiments my operator performed all the manipulations him- 
self, from the coating of the plate to the developing of the pictures ; the result in each 
case being the same, a second figure appearing upon the plate. In one instance the camera 
was taken into the developing room by him, the plate-holder there removed and thoroughly 
examined, and the picture developed. Result the same, no second negative or mechanical 
arrangement whatever being discovered. One fact is worth more as evidence than all the 
theories in existence, and it is a fact that Mr. Mumler's pictures were produced in our 
rooms, with our instruments, chemicals, &c., without his touching the plates or taking 
any part in their jDroduction whatever ; save only that of laying his hand upon the camera 
box during the time of exposure. Tke theories advanced by so-called experts all involve 
previous preparation of cameras, plate-holders, &c., none of which was it possible for Mr. M. 
to have made upon this occasion. The different processes described by them, by which 
Mr. M.'s pictures may be imitated, are known to most photographers. They may prove a 
satisfactory explanation to the minds of said experts, none of whom have investigated 
Mr. M.'s operations themselves, but are far from satisfying those who have. Messrs. 
Gilmore, Gurney, Silver, and myself, with a host of others, know they utterly fail to 
afford a solution of the problem, or account for the facts within our knowledge. I wUl 
pay $100 to any exjiert who will come to my rooms, and under the same circumstances 
that Mr. Mumler's pictures were produced there, do the same by natural means without 
detection. If he succeeds, and can give a satisfactory explanation of the matter, I will 
promptly acknowledge the fact to the world, and thank him for the solution of a mystery 
beyond my comprehension. 

" My operator was present at the trial on Friday last, ready to give his sworn testimony 
to the facts stated. His testimony was not admitted, on the ground that what occurred 
in Poughkeepsie was foreign to the case ; and yet the question is asked, why cannot 
Mumler produce his pictures in some other gallery than his own ? It would seem, if the 
desire was to arrive at the facts in the case, and not to condemn the man, innocent or 
guilty, that any evidence tending to a solution of the matter should not have been ruled 
out upon mere technical grounds. A sworn statement of the facts mentioned has been 
made by my operator, and is now in the hands of Mr. M.'s counsel. Mr. M., whDe here, 
was not only thoroughly watched by those immediately about him, but also by our 
printers, who, stimulated by the reward offered, and believing the whole thing a deception, 
had loopholes prepared, looking from the printing room above into the developing and 
dark rooms below ; and during the little time Mr. M. was left unwatched, or supposed 
himself to be, his every movement was noted by them. They failed to detect anything 
in his operations different from the ordinary process. I have no personal interest in Mr. M., 
and had no acquaintance with him, previous to a casual visit made to his rooms in New 
York, where, at his invitation, on learning I was a photographer, I investigated the 
subject as far as possible, Not being fully satisfied there, although unable to detect any 
sign of imposture, I induced him to visit my rooms, with the above result. 

" Poughkeepsie, N. Y. "VVm. P. Slee." 

The editor of the London Spiritual Magazine^ in the issue of June, 1869, 
says of this case : — 

" We observed that several of the London daily papers published with great alacrity 
the report of the early days of the trial, but so far as we have seen, not one has pubhshed 
the conclusion of the case, which ended in the acquittal of Mr. Mumler. The evidence 
given on his behalf is most interesting, and appears to be of the strongest kind to prove 
the facts. We invite the London press to pubhsh this evidence, and the Judge's decision." 

As well recognized photographic portraits of deceased persons form one 
of those phases of Spiritual phenomena which itinerant conjurers cannot 
expose by jugglery, and priestcraft cannot anathematize by biblical quota- 
tions, as Mr. Mumler in especial has been one of the most candid Mediums 
for the production of this interesting phenomenon, and one who seemed 



48o NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

the last person to become open to the charge of trickery or deception, we 
deem it not out of place to cite still another witness to the test facts which 
generally accompanied the production of his Spirit photographs. The 
testimony with which we propose to close our case is an excerpt from a 
letter written by the author herself to her friends in England, when com- 
plying with their request to send them some specimens of American Spirit 
photographs. 

The letter is dated from Chicago, January 20th, 1872, and was published 
in the columns of the Religio Philosophical Journal. The extract pertinent 
to our case reads as follows : — 

" In 1870, during a brief residence in London, I was engaged to write a series of musical 
articles, amongst which was an analysis of Beethoven's celebrated C Minor Symphony. 
Whilst I was occupied in this work, I was made aware that the spirit of the noble com- 
poser was present, and that he desired me to frame my analysis after a certain fashion, 
the specialities of which he himself undertook to dictate. 1 had always been a passionate 
admirer of Beethoven's music, and as I was frequently called upon to write analyses of his 
works, I must admit that I was too much disposed to become enthusiastic in my methods 
of expression to suit my matter of fact employers. 

" I had been warned previous to the occasion of which I write, not to indulge in any 
' high-flown strains of eulogy,' but the presence of the grand old master's spirit seemed so 
completely to conquer all tendencies to common-place expression that, forgetful of the 
warning I had received, I wi-ote out the spirit's ideas in language of my own, and that of 
a character which on any other occasions I shovild have been certain would be rejected 
for its unqualified and enthusiastic tone of eulogy. When my work was ended, the keen- 
sighted spirit, addressing me, said : ' Presently, when I am gone, you will doubt my 
identity and rebuke yourself for fancying that Beethoven has been your visitor. I will 
give you three convincing tests of my presence, the first of which is, that your employer 
shall accept your article and declare it is the best you have ever written on this subject. 
The other two tests will come' Test number one was realised that very same day, my 
employer expressing unusual satisfaction with my article, and declaring it to le the best 
I had ever ivritten, &c., &c. 

" The following evening I had the privilege of being one of a party of twelve persons 
who were holding a stance at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, Mr. D. D. Home 
being the medium. During the progress of the manifestations, which were very powerful 
and interesting, I suddenly beheld the spirit of Beethoven standing by my side, and heard 
clairaudiently the words, ' I have come to give you the second test.' No one saw the 
spirit or heard the voice but me, and whilst I was relating to the company what 
I had seen and heard, and the circumstances which rendered the presence of that spirit 
peculiarly significant, an accordion, which was lying on the table, was carried by unseen 
hands beneath it, and instantly was played in clear and stately measures a remarkable and 
very prominent passage in the C Minor Symphony. It is necessary to remember that this 
passage is repeated in every movement of the Symphony, and it is rendered stiU more 
memorable from the fact that when Ferdinand Reis, Beethoven's pupil, commented upon 
its frequent recurrence to the composer, the latter seized a pen and wrote beneath the 
passage in question in the German language : 'So knocks fate at my door.' These words 
will be found in the original score in Beethoven's handwriting, and from this circumstance 
the name of '' The Geist Symphony" has been commonly given to this magnificent work 
All this I had commented upon in the analysis before referred to. The passage itself- 
played by no mortal hands, was at once recognized by several of the party present besides 
myself, and hence formed, as may be imagined, a second and striking test of the identity 
of the great master's spirit. A few weeks after the occurrence of this circumstance, I 
was in Boston, America, and a few days after I had landed a lady friend called on me and 
asked if I would accompany her to the spirit photographer's (Mr. Mumler). As we were 
both entirely unacquainted with Mr. Mumler, we deemed that our improvised visit might 
be the means of ehciting some good tests. After waiting a considerable time to take our 
turn we were admitted, and my friend, who was the first sitter, was overjoyed by procur- 
ing a striking spirit photograph of her deceased brother. I had no intention of sitting 
at the time when I entered the room ; indeed Mr. Mumler had remarked that it was so 
late that he would rather make a fresh appointment with us than give a sitting at that 
time. But this we were resolved not to do ; we would have our sitting then or never. 
After my friend's sitting was ended, Mr. Mumler, addressing me, said he very much 
wished I would let him take my picture. There seemed to be such a strong spirit 




Wf Emmette Coleman 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 481 

influence present, he said, that he would rather take my picture without payment than 
suffer me to depart. Thus urged, I sat down before the camera entirely unprepared as I 
was. Whilst Mr. Mumler was developing the plate, which he did in our presence, we 
having accompanied him, by his own request, to the darkened room, I heard the voice of 
the spirit Beethoven saying, 'I have come to give you the third test.' When Mr. 
Mumler withdrew the negative from the bath, we all remarked a large head on the plate, 
and the appearance of a lyre composed of flowers, held before me. I observed that I 
thought the spirit must be a musician, and that the head resembled that of Handel, 
Immediately upon this Mr. Mumler caught up a pencil and wrote the name Beethoven. 
I have only to add that my custom of writing musical articles, or being in any way 
interested in musical matters, was at that time unknown to my friends in America, 
This fact, together with the circumstances attending my unprepared visit to the 
photographer, and his entire ignorance of my name, should all be considered as hnks in 
the chain of evidence, tending to prove that the veritable spirit of Beethoven was the 
agent in producing the whole series of tests, the last of which so transcendently proves 
the genuine character of Mr. Mumler's mediumship. Permit me to add that I have had 
many tests through this same medium subsequently ; also, that I am cognisant of 
numerous parties who have received well-defined spirit portraits of their deceased friends 
through Mr. Mumler, but I do not remember any case that demonstrates more con- 
clusively the agency of an individualised spirit than the incident I have narrated, taken 
in relation to all its attendant circumstances." 



CHAPTER LVI. 

SPIRiraALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED.) 

The next case in relation to Spiritualism before the bar of human judica- 
ture which we propose to notice, forms a marked example of the mode in 
which medical monopolists endeavour to stamp out of existence the 
beneficent gift of healing by the laying on of hands ; a power — which of 
all others — should be manifested by those who rejoice in the tide of 
Christians, and claim to be followers of the Great Healer of Nazareth, 

The subject of the trial we are about to describe was Dr. J. D, Mac- 
Lennan, a gendeman who was first widely known as a healer, by the 
marvellous cure which he effected of Dr, Slade, when the latter was carried 
to his office paralyzed and helpless. 

The celebrity which this case obtained was amply justified by Dr, Mac- 
Lennan's subsequent successes, and the invariable kindness and liberality 
with which his great gift was exercised. 

The nature of the charges brought against Dr. MacLennan will be best 
understood by perusing the following summary of the trial to which he was 
subjected, the report being taken from the San Francisco Evening Post^ 
dated March 22nd, 188 1. It is headed 

"magnetic healing. — TRIAL OF J. D, MACLENNAN FOR MISDEMEANOR 
IN PRACTICING IT, 

" There was a very interesting case on trial in the Police Court yesterday afternoon 
before Judge Rix. In December last J. D. MacLennan, the magnetic healer, whose office 
is at 114, Geary Street, was arrested at the instance of A. A. Stoneburger, charged with 
violating section 11 of the law regulating the practice of medicine in this state. There 
were quite a large number of ladies present ; also the officers and many of the members 
of the First Spiritual Union, who seemed to take great interest in the case. It was 
claimed by the prosecution that Mr, MacLennan was a physician and practiced as such, 

31 



482 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

and should procure a certificate to practice from one of the three examining boards ap- 
pointed under the law. The defendant claimed, on the contrary, that he was no doctor, 
but was a healer, alleviating pain and disease by God-given, vital magnetic force. The 
complaining witness, Stonebiirger, who is a medical student at the Medical College of the 
Pacific, when sworn, related how, on the 20th of December last, provided with money 
given him by Dr. Plummer, he had sought Mr. MacLennan's office, then on Stockton 
Street, and pretended to be seeking reUef for an affection of the spine. Dr. Plummer 
had cautioned this stool-pigeon to be sure and address Mr. MacLennan as ' Doctor,' 
which he did ; and the healer, not noticing that he was so addressed, allowed Stoneburger 
to use that title. The witness related how the defendant had assured him that he was 
suffering from rheumatism (which proved to be the case), and then assured him that he 
could cure him in three weeks. Stoneburger agreed to the terms mentioned, and gave 
the healer three dollars of the money provided by Dr. Plummer. He was then subjected 
to a course of manipulation by hand-rubbing, which the witness was forced to acknow- 
ledge had a very salutary effect on him. When cross-examined by Daniel J. Murphy and 
Judge CoUins for the defence, Stoneburger admitted that the money paid MacLennan 
came from the college where he was studying, and that he went to the healer's office 
simply to 'put up a job' on him. The witness did not see any medical appliances in the 
healer's room, his process of curing being simply by manipulation ; was not offered any 
medicine, nor did the healer use any ointment or oils. Witness felt a slight shock during 
the manipulation. He thought it was not electricity. Witness was positive that it could 
not have been electricity ; yet when asked if he knew the difference between electricity 
and animal magnetism said that there was none ! After thus leading off weakly, the 
prosecution called Dr. C. M. Bates, who defined ponderable and imponderable elements 
of medicine. 

" The witness defined the difference between electricity and animal magnetism. The 
former could be generated — the latter was that force in a person which, when he has a 
positive individuality, he can produce and use to alleviate pain in others. After adroitly 
getting this acknowledgment from the witness, Mr. Murphy put this question to him. 

" Q. This principle of relieving pain by rubbing has existed for all time, has it not ? — 
A. Yes. 

" Q. Now, then, would you call every mother who uses these methods to relieve pain 
in her children a practitioner ? — A. No ; for sometimes they fail to relieve pain, 
" Mr. Murphy : And do not your medicines sometimes fail ? 

" This was a poser, and the witness was obliged to confess that they sometimes did. 
Witness admitted that rheumatism could often be cured by the application of hands, and 
he did not deny that some people were endowed with this mysterious gift, 
" Mr. Murphy : What is medicine, doctor ? 

" Dr. Bates : Medicine is anything that will cure disease or reheve pain. A practitioner 
can use any and all means to alleviate pain or cure disease. 

" After this witness had claimed that a mother giving her child a mustard bath, or 
rubbing its body, or a barber brushing a customer's hair, to alleviate pain, was a practitioner 
and ' M.D.,' Dr. EUinwood was called for the prosecution. 

" Witness knew that there was such a force as animal magnetism, but could not define 
what it was. It was something no one could understand. He defined it as something 
like heat. He thought that the appUcation of this magnetism was practicing medicine. 
'Anything,' said the witness, ' used to alleviate pain or cure disease is a medicine.' 

" Mr. Murphy : Then, doctor, everything and anything that has healing properties — such 
as the air, light, heat, the sun's rays — all belong to the medical fraternity? — A. Well, 
yes ; in the ordinary acceptation of the word. 

" Mr. Murphy : Then anything that has curative properties is medicine ? Witness 
(promptly) : Yes, sir. 

" Q, And any one who uses these to benefit others is a physician ? A. Yes, sir, 
" Q. Well, then, if I should take a man out of a dungeon, where he was dying for want 
of air and sunlight, and bring him out into the light, I would be giving him medicine — 
I would be practicing medicine ? 

" Witness (after a pause) : Well, I think that you would be. (Suppressed merriment.) 
"Mr. Murphy: That's all, doctor. I do not know what the honorable fraternity 
would not claim after that ! 

" The prosecution, seeing how they had utterly failed to make out their case, had 
little argument to make. Judge Collins, for the defence, asked the court to instruct 
the jury to acquit the defendant, as the prosecution had failed utterly to show that 
Mr. MacLennan had practiced medicine. In support of the motion he defined the term 
physician, as meant by the law. It was that any person shaU be regarded as practicing 
medicine, within the meaning of the act, who shall publicly profess to be a physician, or 
shall append ' M.D,' to his name, ' No proof,' said Judge ColUns, ' has been adduoed that 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 483 

our client has professed to be a physician or a doctor, nor has he prescribed medicine, as 
it is ordinarily understood, for any one. The section that covers the case of the defendant 
reads as follows : " Any itinerant vendor of drugs, nostrums, ointments, or appliances 
tending to cure disease, or any person who shall, by the use of any writing, printing, or 
by manipulation, profess to cure disease, shall pay a license of $100 per month." That 
is where the defendant comes in. He does not profess to be a physician, but he does 
profess to cure disease by this animal magnetism, by the laying on of hands. No medical 
board can order him to procure a doctor's certificate. How can he, when he has not 
studied medicine?' 

"Mr. Murphy : 'This clause in the law, requiring a license and not a certificate, was 
made for that class of men who can throw the powers of the unseen world into others. 
When a man has this God-given gift would you bar him out from benefiting mankind ? 
The men that would do this would have prosecuted Christ for healing the sick and for 
raising the dead.' After making a very able and logical argument, Mr. Murphy again 
asked the court to instruct the jury to acquit. At the conclusion of Mr. Murphy's 
remarks. Judge Rix, addressing the jury, said : ' The prosecution has failed to show that 
the defendant claims to be a physician. They only show that he professes to be a healer. 
He himself admits and claims that he is a healer by animal magnetism. I think that the 
prosecution have failed to substantiate this charge, and therefore will instruct you to 
acquit.' When the jury promptly returned a verdict of not guilty, the many friends of 
Mr. MacLennan crowded around him and congratulated him on so ably proving to all that 
while he did heal the sick by his great powers, those powers were ia-born, God-given, and 
that no college of medicine could debar him from using them for the benefit of sufiering 
humanity. wing to the granting of the motion to dismiss, a large number of witnesses 
for Mr MacLennan, who had volunteered in his behalf, were not called upon to testify." 

It need hardly be added that there were more persons than the parties 
named above who were personally rejoiced in the issue of this trial ; the 
principles of liberty and equity being even more deeply involved in its 
results than the simple fact that justice was due to the benevolent healer 
who was the enforced defendant in the case. It is worth while also to 
take note of the arguments used by the prosecution, and observe how 
grossly ignorant the present generation appear to be on the subject of 
Spiritual gifts, and powers in general. 

We call attention to this case, not only because the verdict established 
the rights of the Spirituahsts in the above-mentioned directions, but because 
it affords a noteworthy illustration of the wide difference in the administra- 
tion of justice between the courts of judicature in England and America, 
In every instance in which Spiritualists have been cited to appear 
before the tribunals of justice (?) in England, the verdicts have been given 
against them, and yet none can ever peruse the trials of Sothern versus 
Coleman, and Lyons versus Home, without coming to the conclusion that 
the most flagrant injustice was exercised in each case by verdicts against 
the defendants. 

It will be remembered also, that when the Australian Spiritualists 
petitioned through the "Victorian Association of Spiritualists," for leave to 
take a modest admission fee at the door where their religious exercises 
were held Sabbath by Sabbath; where hymns were sung, prayers said, and 
no perversion of bigotry could twist the exercises into an appearance of 
show, or attempt at gain, the Government unrelentingly forbade the continu- 
ance of the meetings, so long as the admission fee was taken, and that 
notwithstanding the fact, that the same Government tolerated a regular 
tariff of payment for seats in every Catholic place of worship, and allowed 
church pews, aye, and the sacred office of rectorship to be sold by auction 
to the highest bidders in the reverend (?) State Church of England. 

It now becomes necessary to refer to a matter that has hitherto been 
left to oral representation or, more correctly speaking, no representation at 
all, save such as originated with the " lying tongue of rumour." This is, 



484 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 

the amount of influence said to be exerted by Spirits upon the mind of the 
martyred President, Abraham Lincoln, in issuing the famous " emancipa- 
tion proclamation," by which the chains of that slavery — so disgraceful to 
the nation in which it was practised — were struck from the necks of four 
millions of human beings. 

The narrative in substance was given to the author, together with the 
several printed extracts quoted, by Colonel Kase, one of the principal 
actors in the scenes which follow. It should be stated, that Colonel Kase 
is a noble-hearted, philanthropic gentleman, whose warmest efforts have 
ever been given to the advancement of Spiritualism, and whose residence 
in Philadelphia is open to all comers who plead " Spiritualism " as their 
claim for hospitality. It cannot be expected but that this munificent 
spirit is often abused by the unworthy. Colonel Kase however, as well as 
his amiable wife, evidently deems that it is " better to be the wronged, than 
the wronger." 

Meantime, to return to Colonel Kase's part in the famous deed which 
caused the whole world to ring with blessings on the name of Abraham 
Lincoln. 

It was during the progress of the fatal civil war which raged in America 
from [861 to four years later, that Colonel S. P. Kase, of Philadelphia, 
being deeply interested in railroad undertakings, was compelled to visit the 
Capitol in 1862, with a view of making interest in Congress in favour of 
some of his enterprises. Whilst Colonel Kase was one day strolling in the 
Capitol grounds, his eyes were attracted to a house where he had formerly 
boarded, and on which he now saw the sign of " J. B. Conklin, writing and 
test Medium." Colonel Kase had some slight knowledge of this Medium, 
then widely celebrated as one of the most reliable of instruments for Spirit 
communications. To continue the narrative in the Colonel's own language. 
He says : — 

" Just as the name attracted my attention I heard a voice at my right side say : ' 60 
see him : he is in the same room you used to occupy.' I looked to see who spoke, but there 
was no human being within a hundred yards of me. The question passed through my 
mind — ' Who knows that I ever occupied a room in this house ? ' Twelve years had 
passed since that time. An indescribable feehng came over me ; I seemed rivetted to the 
spot. It was only the work of a moment. However, I concluded to enter the building, 
and upon ascending the stairway, passed into the room which had been occupied by me in 
1850, and here Mr. Conkling sat, just having finished a letter to President Lincoln, and 
which he was enclosing as I entered. ' Here, Mr. Kase,' said Mr. Conkling, ' I want you 
to take this letter to the President ; you can see him, but 1 can't.' ' 0, sir/ I replied ; 
' I cannot take your letter ; send it by mail ; I have just arrived in this city and am not 
acquainted with the President ; besides, I am here on important business and must be 
formally introduced to him. I cannot take your letter.' Mr. Conkling said : ' You must 
take this letter ; you are here for this purpose ; i£ you do not take it he will never see 
it.' At this moment a voice again said to me : ' Go and see ivhat will come of this.' This 
voice seemed just behind me. I was startled, dumbfounded ; I stood fixed to the spot. 
Finally I said : ' Give me the letter.' ' Will you go along ? ' ' Yes ; but I can't see 
him.' 'You can,' was the medium's reply. ' Well, here's an omnibus just turning ; 
we'll get in that.' The sun was just then setting behind the distant hills. We arrived 
at the Presidential mansion in the dusk of the evening ; rang the bell ; a servant appears. 
' Is the President in ? ' ' Yes,' was the reply, 'he is at tea.' ' Can I see him ? ' 'What 
is the name ? ' I gave him my name. He soon returned, saying, ' The President will see 
you after tea. Step up iato the gentlemen's parlour.' Conkling and myself seated our- 
selves in the parlour to which the servant had directed us. Soon after the servant 
appeared at the door, beckoning me forward, and opening a door leading to the President's 
room. The President was approaching the door as I entered. He stopped, somewhat 
disappointed, and stepped back one or two steps as I approached, I saying to him, ' My 
name is S. P. Kase, of DanvUle, Pa.' ' The President expected to meet S. P. Chase, then 
Secretary of the Treasury,' his response was, 'you are from Pennsylvania,' showing me to 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 485 

a chair upon the opposite side of a long table. He took a seat directly opposite, and for 
some time drew me out respecting Pennsylvania. I told him that I lived in the town 
where the first anthracite pig-iron was manufactured, and where the first T rail was made 
in the United States. And for a full half -hour various questions pertaining to the war 
and the prosperity of Pennsylvania were discussed, when I handed him the Conkling 
letter. He broke it open, read it, and seemed a little surprised, saying ; ' What does this 
mean ? ' My reply was, ' I do not know what the letter contains, but I have no doubt 
that it means just what it says.' ' You do not know,' responded the President, ' what 
this letter is, and yet you think it means just what it says ?' 'Yes, sir, I think so,' I 
replied. ' Well, then,' said the President, " I will read it for you.' Here is the letter : 

" ' I have been sent from the city of New York by Spiritual influence pertaining to the 
interest of the nation. I can't return until I see you. Appoint the time. Yours, etc., 

" ' (Signed) J. B. Conklinq.' 

" The President then said, ' What do you know about Spiritualism ? ' 'I know very 
little, but what I do know you are welcome to.' ' Let me hear.' I then rehearsed my 
first interview in New York, in the year 1858, as hereafter stated." 

It would be unnecessary to follow Colonel Kase's narrative which, 
though sufficiently interesting to be worthy of recital, has been doubtless 
duplicated in every Spiritualistic reader's experience many times over. 

It must be observed however, that although the President of the United 
States was not at that time, and is not now, easily accessible to strangers, 
there were special circumstances attending Colonel Kase's visit, which were 
peculiarly favourable to the interview in question. 

In the first place, he was no doubt admitted because his name was mis- 
taken for that of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

When he met the President he was at once known as a gentleman of 
influential position, whose connection with railroads — then of the utmost 
importance to the Government in the transport of troops — secured atten- 
tion for whatever he might have to say. It must be added, that no stranger, 
however high his position may be, who once looks into the kind face and 
clear honest eyes of Colonel Kase, can treat him with hauteur^ or even 
indifference. There are some individuals whose very presence is a letter of 
recommendation. Such an one is Colonel Kase, and as such, the reader 
must remember, that the Spirits full well understood the characteristics of 
the messenger they had selected to do their work. At the conclusion of 
Colonel Kase's narrative of personal experiences, he adds : — 

" President Lincoln seemed very much interested and said : ' Tell Mr. Conkling that 
I will see him on Sunday, between 9 and 10 a.m.' ' Oh, no,' was my reply ; ' write him a 
letter.' ' Very well, I will write him a letter,' was the reply of the President. I then 
said I thought my mission was ended — shook hands, and left ; called for Conkling in 
the gentlemen's parlour, and we returned to our respective lodgings." 

In a condensed account of what followed this interview, the editor of 
the Spiritual Scientist says :— "For four succeeding Sundays Mr. Conkhng 
was a guest at the Presidential mansion." Mr. Conkling has himself 
alleged to the author, that the Spirits not only urged the subject of the 
emancipation proclamation, but that they, in the name of the Independence 
Fathers, spelled out, letter by letter, the preliminary draft of that famous 
document. The result of these interviews was the President's proposition 
to his Cabinet to issue such a proclamation, and the final success of the 
stupendous work, as recorded in the national archives of the country. The 
influence exerted by the celebrated test Medium Conkling, was not the only 
one brought to bear upon the good President, as the following incident 
will show. Again we give it in the simple words of Colonel Kase, as 
narrated to the editor of the Spiritual Scientist, and confirmed through his 
own lips, in recent interviews with the author. He says : — 



486 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" Four weeks after I first carried the Conkling letter to President Lincoln, I was stand- 
ing in the gallery of the House, when I saw an old lady leave her seat and come walking 
across the gallery toward me ; and as she got opposite me she turned and handed me her 
card, saying, ' Call when it suits you,' and immediately turned and went back to her seat. 
I stood, thinking it very strange that a lady I had never seen, should give me her card and 
tell me to call. In looking around I saw Judge Wattles, and immediately inquired of him 
who that lady was. He replied, ' That is Mrs. Laurie.' ' And who is Mrs. Laurie ? ' was 
my quick response. ' She gave me her card and said I should call.' The judge replied, 
' She is a medium. I have been twice to her house ; she lives in Georgetown, and has a 
daughter who plays the piano with her eyes closed, and the piano raises up and beats time 
on the floor as perfectly as the time is kept upon the instrument, and they call it 
Spiritualism.' I rephed I would hke to witness that very much. ' Well, you have a 
card of invitation, if you wish I will go with you this evening.' 

" The arrangement being perfected we went, and arrived there about eight o'clock in 
the evening. Who should we meet there but President Lincoln and his lady. After 
passing the courtesies of the day, perhaps ten minutes intervening, I saw a young girl 
approaching the President, with a measured step, with her eyes closed, and walking up 
to the President, accosted him as follows : ' You, sir, as President of the Republic, are 
called to the position you occupy for a very important purpose. The world is not only 
groaning under the weight of mental and spiritual bondage, but four millions, made in 
God's image, are enduring physical slavery. Their yokes must be broken, the fetters 
must be severed, and the physically enslaved must be set free, before your nation can be 
restored to its proper station. Freedom was germinally planted in the forest lands of the 
West in Washington's time, and is now about to bud and bear precious fruitage. This 
Republic has heretofore led the van of nations in its line of free-thought, but the dark 
plague-spot of slavery stains its banner. This national evil must be removed. There is 
a spiritual congress supervising the affairs of this nation. This civil war will never cease ; 
the shout of victory will never ring through the North, will never reverberate along the 
valleys of the South ; the oHve-branch of peace will never wave over your fields, and 
lakes, and mountains, till you issue a proclamation of freedom — a proclamation that 
shall set for ever free the enslaved millions of your distracted country." 

These were only the opening words of an address which Colonel Kase 
comments on in the following terms : — 

" This being her text, she lectured the President for a full hour and a half upon the 
importance of emancipating the slave, saying that the war could not end until slavery 
was abohshed ; that God destined all men to be free, that they may rise to their proper 
status. Her language was truly sublime and full of arguments, grand in the extreme ; 
that from the time his proclamation of freedom was issued there would be no reverses to 
our army. As soon as this young girl (who I thought could not be out of her teens, but 
who I afterwards understood was the celebrated trance medium, Nettie Maynard, of New 
York State) came out of the trance, she ran off, frightened to think that she had been 
talking to the President." 

Colonel Kase's description of what followed this remarkable speech is 
too naive to be omitted. He says : — 

" Immediately Mrs. Miller commenced playing the piano, and the front side of it com- 
menced to beat the time, by raising off the fioor and coming down with a heavy thud. I 
got up and requested the privilege of sitting on it that I might verify to the world that 
it moved. Yes, the medium says : ' You and as many more as see proper may get on it.' 
Judge Wattels, the two soldiers who accompanied the President, and myself, got on the 
instrument ; the medium commenced to play, the instrument commenced to go vsdth all 
our weight on it, raising four inches at least ; it was too rough riding, so we got off it, 
whilst the instrument beat the time until the tune was played out. This brought 11 
o'clock and we all returned to our respective homes. Two evenings after, I went back to 
Mrs. Laurie's and again I met the President and his lady there. Again the medium was 
entranced and lectured the President upon the same subject, for a full hour and a half, 
when Mrs. Miller played the piano, and the time beat as before described in the presence 
of the President and his lady and a number of persons who were in attendance. Thus it 
was that President Lincoln was convinced as to the course he should pursue ; the com- 
mand coming from that all-seeing angel world, was not to be overlooked ; so like a faith- 
ful servant, when convinced of his duty, he feared not to do it, and to proclaim freedom 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 487 

by the Emancipation Proclamation to four millions of slaves. That proclamation was 
issued on September 22, 1862, to take effect the First day of January, 1863. In the 
intermediate time the Union army had in divers places twenty-six battles, every one of 
them was a success upon the Union side. Thus the prediction of the medium waa 
verified." 

It now becomes necessary to take a general review of the phenomenal 
facts that have occurred in America since the publication of the work so 
often referred to as the history of the first twenty years of the movement. 
In so doing, we shall step aside to a certain extent from the plan of con- 
fining our notices to the last fifteen years, the author having collected a 
large mass of material for the compilation of a second volume of the 
American Spiritual History, some of which is too remarkable to be con- 
signed to obUvion, even though it may be out of the chronological order 
adopted in this section of the work. The first narrative seems strangely 
enough to form a well-defined corner stone for uprearing the structure of 
"Nineteenth Century SpirituaUsm," as it dates back to the year 1800, and 
in this respect, no less than in its marvellous character, forms the basis of 
a distinct epoch in the history of what has been called "Supernaturalism." 

We shall give the narrative with some excisions, as it was printed by the 
author in the pages of the Western Star magazine. The article is headed 

WONDERFUL SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN MAINE IN THE YEARS l8oO-l8o6' 

One of the most extraordinary manifestations of Spirit communion that 
is to be found on authentic record occurring in America prior to the date 
of the Rochester knockings, took place in the year 1800, in the State of 
Maine, and a general account is given of it in a pamphlet written by the 
Rev. Abraham Cummings, an eye-witness of the phenomena he describes. 
The title of the pamphlet is " ImmortaUty proved by the Testimony of 
Sense," etc. The publisher adds on a fly leaf: "Immortahty proved by 
phenomena that were witnessed by hundreds in the town of Sullivan, 
Maine, in the year 1800. Published by an eye-witness, the Rev. Abraham 
Cummings, a man eminent in learning and piety ; a graduate of Harvard 
University." 

The pamphlet, which is a series of letters, arguments, allusions to portions 
of the history supposed to be already known to the reader, and affidavits of 
various witnesses — contains circumstantial details of the apparition of a 
Mrs. Butler, who manifested her presence to hundreds of people by 
rappings, preternatural lights, singing, speaking with an audible voice, and 
frequent appearances in her own as well as other forms. 

Besides Mr. Cumming's pamphlet, the author has gathered up a mass of 
information on this subject from various publications of the time, as well as 
the oral testimony of several persons whose nearest relatives were residents 
in Sullivan, and themselves eye-witnesses of the extraordinary scenes here 
related. From all these sources, it appears that a certain Captain Butler, 
residing near Sullivan, Maine, married Miss Nelly Hooper, who, ten months 
after her marriage, gave birth to one child, and passed with her infant into 
the spirit world. Shortly after this lady's decease, Captain Butler became the 
accepted lover of a Miss Blaisdell, whose father, like his own, was violently 
opposed to the match. 

In this state of things, and whilst the lovers were vainly attempting to 
soften the obduracy of their parents, the spirit of Mrs. Nelly Butler became 
an active participator in the scene. She manifested herself in the various 



488 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

modes before described, in the houses of Mr. Blaisdell, Mr. Butler, and her 
own father, Mr. Hooper. She appeared to, and audibly conversed with her 
mother and sisters; urged her father to visit Mr. Butler, with a view of 
persuading him that the manifestations that now began to astound the whole 
country, were not, as he wilfully persisted in asserting, the artful contri- 
vance of Miss Blaisdell, but were in reality produced by herself, the spirit 
of his daughter. Her father, mother, and sisters, became so entirely con- 
vinced of the spirit's identity that they published circumstantial details of 
her visitation, attested by their solemn affidavits. One of the purposes 
alleged by the spirit to have influenced her appearance, was to procure the 
consent of the parents to the marriage of her late husband with Miss 
Blaisdell. To the latter she seemed to manifest an extraordinary attach- 
ment, and constantly declared that the union was destined by Heaven, and 
should take place. 

It appears that after the decease of Mrs. Nelly Butler, strong suspicions 
were entertained of foul play, and a trial, attended with circumstances of 
much suspicion and many curious allegations, took place, to ascertain the 
manner of her death. The "spectre" herself, as the phrase went, made 
several communications to different parties on the subject, and the general 
impression which prevailed in the community was, that the frequent appari- 
tion of this unresting spirit was attributable to the fact that her Hfe was cut 
short by violence. 

As the immediate descendants of the three families involved in this dark 
scandal are still living, and reside at the scene of the hauntings, we do not 
feel justified in entering into any further details. The Rev. Abraham 
Cummings alludes but slightly to the trial, the decision of the grand jury, 
and the persecutions which attended the various members of the families 
connected with the entire transactions. 

One thing is certain : the lapse of over seventy years since the period of 
these strange occurrences, has not been sufficient to erase the impression 
that Mrs. Nelly Butler was murdered, and that to this cause was attributable 
her pertinacious visitations to the scene of her earthly wrongs. 

Mrs. Butler's spirit often walked by the side of Miss Blaisdell in the light 
of day, and the full sight of astonished witnesses. She was frequently seen 
in the fields, lanes, and woods, besides the houses which she frequented, 
where she would pass from room to room, and when the inmates, terrified 
by her apparition, fled from the apartment, she would kindly assure them 
she would not intrude upon their presence, but meet with them whenever 
they wished to see or converse with her in the cellars of their dwellings. 
In the cellar of Mn Blaisdell's house she conversed for several hours on 
different occasions with the crowds who flocked thither to witness the 
manifestations. Sometimes she appeared to a number of persons at a time, 
occasionally in the likeness of her former self, but still oftener in a fleecy 
mass of white shadowy light. When the parents of the lovers, awed by the 
preternatural interference of this wonderful apparition, finally gave their 
consent to the union, the spirit presented herself at the wedding festivities, 
and there foretold the death of the bride within ten months, together with 
the birth and death of one child. These dark predictions, like many other 
of her prophecies, proved correct, but the decease of the second Mrs. Butler 
seems to have had no effect in laying the spirit of her predecessor. From 
the pertinacity with which she urged on the marriage, and her frequent 
appearance in the house and about the person of Miss Blaisdell, suspicion 
had attached to the latter as having simulated the phenomena for the 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 489 

purpose of effecting a union with Captain Butler ; but when it was found that 
her appearances after the marriage were more frequent than before, whilst 
her visitations continued with equal force and intensity after the second 
Mrs. Butler's death, this hypothesis became untenable ; neither would the 
facts of the case conform with the assumption that Miss Blaisdell's medium- 
ship was essential to the production of the phenomena, which continued, 
as we have stated, long after her decease. 

Mention is made in Mr. Cumming's pamphlet of a singular act, enjoined 
in the most solemn manner by the " spectre," namely, the digging up and 
re-interment of her child's body, which she desired to be buried in a different 
place. At the re-interment, which caused great scandal in the neighbourhood, 
the spirit attended in person, singing and chanting in a voice which was 
audible to over eighty people who were present at the ceremony. She 
appears to have been very piously disposed, singing hymns, quoting 
Scripture, praying, exhorting, and representing herself as " in heaven, with 
Jesus and the angels." Hundreds of witnesses saw and heard this spirit, 
many of them people of the first standing, whose veracity and candor was 
unquestioned ; notwithstanding this, the three families chiefly concerned 
became the subject of the most cruel calumnies, bitter persecutions, and 
finally of the trial above alluded to, during the course of which upwards of 
forty affidavits were given by some of the most respectable persons in the 
community, confirmatory of the statements above alleged, and descriptive 
of the various modes in which the "spectre" had manifested herself As 
the Rev. Abraham Cummings has given several very interesting and minute 
details of the modes in which the ghostly visitant's presence was regarded, 
besides having published in full the affidavits of the whole forty witnesses 
examined on the trial, we shall refer our readers to the following quotations 
from this pamphlet, for the better understanding of the marvellous 
circumstances narrated : — 

" The times, places, and modes of her appearing were various. Sometimes she appeared 
to one alone, sometimes to two or three, then to five, six, ten, or twelve, again to twenty, 
and once to more than forty witnesses. She appeared in several apartments of Mr. 
Blaisdell's house, and several times in the cellai-. 8he also appeared at other houses, and 
in the open fields. There, white as the light, she moved like a cloud above the ground in 
personal form and magnitude, and in the presence of more than forty people. She tarried 
with them till after daylight, and vanished ; not because she was afraid of the sun, for 
she had then several times appeared when the sun was shining. Once in particular, when 
she appeared in the room where the family were, about eleven o'clock in the day, they all 
left the house ; but convinced of the impropriety of their conduct, they returned. 

" At another time, when several neighbours were at the house, and were conversing on 
these remarkable events, a young lady in the company declared that, though she had 
heard the discourse of the spectre, she would never believe that there had been a spectre 
among us, unless she could see her. 

" In a few minutes after, the spectre appeared to several persons, and said she must 
come into the room where the company was. One of those who saw her, pleaded that she 
would not. The spectre then asked, ' Is there a person here who desires to see me ? ' 
The young lady was then called, who, mth several others, saw the spectre. ' Here I am,' 
said she, ' satisfy yourselves.' The lady owned that she was satisfied. It was now about 
two o'clock in the day. In short, the ghost appeared or conversed almost as frequently 
in the day as in the night. 

" In all the appearances of the spectre she was as white as the light, and this white- 
ness was as clear and visible in a dark cellar and dark night, as when she appeared in the 
open field and in the open day. At a certain time, August 9th, she informed a number 
of people that she meant to appear before them (for she frequently conversed without 
appearing at all), that they must stand in order, and behave in a solemn manner : ' For 
the Lord,' said she, ' is a God of order.' Accordingly she appeared and vanished before 
them several times. At first they saw a small body of light, which continually increased 
till it formed the shape and magnitude of a person. 



490 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" This personal shape approached so near to Captain Butler, that he put his hand upon 
it, and it passed down through the apparition as throus;h a body of light, in the view of 
thirteen persons, who all saw the apparition, which rose into personal form, face and 
features, in a moment ; returned to a shapeless mass, resumed her personality, and vanished 
again directly. They saw that which was not afraid to be handled by them, for she 
passed slowly by them, near enough for that purpose. 

" As to the witnesses, not one of them has ever been accused or even suspected of 
being concerned in an artifice. Some of them are aged, others young. They had, and 
still have, professions, employments, and interests widely different, and belong to different 
families 

" She mentioned several incidents of her past life, known only to her husband, as he 
declared, and asked him if he remembered them. He said yes. She asked him if he had 
told them. He answered no ; and of such a nature were those incidents as to render it 
utterly improbable that he ever should have mentioned them before. This was at the 
time when he attempted to handle the apparition. 

" Once, when she conversed with about fourteen persons, Mr. Blaisdell, having heard 
that his father was sick, asked the spectre whether she knew anything, or not, concerning 
him. 'Your father,' she replied, 'is in heaven, praising God with the angels.' He after- 
wards found that his father, two hundred miles distant, died three days before this 
answer of the ghost, and his friends at York, where his father lived, utterly deny that 
they sent the news in the course of these days 

" At the time when fifty people heard her discourse, while more than forty saw her, 
to some of them — who no more believed these extraordinary events than mankind now 
do in general — she mentioned several occurrences of her past life, known to them and 
her, in order to satisfy them that she was the very person she professed to be. Almost 
all this company had been acquainted with her in her life-time, and a considerable 
number of them very intimately. She desired that any of them would ask what ques- 
tions they pleased, for the removal of any doubts respecting her. Accordingly certain 
persons did propose several questions respecting a number of events in her past life. To 
all these inquiries, she gave completely satisfactory answers. 

" She foretold what the opinion and conduct of mankind would be with regard to her, 
and the ill-treatment which Mr. Blaisdell's family would receive on her account. She not 
only declared the necessity, but foretold the certainty of the marriage at an hour when 
both the parties and both the families opposed it. 

"Within thirty hours after Mrs. Butler's marriage, the spectre predicted that she 
would become the parent of but one child, and then die. Ten mouths after this her child 
was born, and ^he died the next day. The safe return of one bound to the West Indies 
was also foretold and accomplished. 

" These predictions are all fulfilled, and were previously and sufficiently known in this 
vicinity for evidence that they were such. She uttered several other predictions now 
accomplished 

"Some time in July, 1806, in the evening, I was informed by two persons that they 
had just seen the spectre in the field. 

"About ten minutes after, I went out, not to see a miracle, for I believed that they 
had been mistaken. Looking towards an eminence twelve rods distant from the house, I 
saw there, as I supposed, one of the white rocks. This confirmed my opinion of their 
spectre, and I paid no more attention to it. Three minutes after, I accidentally looked in 
the same direction, and the white rock was in the air ; its form a complete globe, white, 
with a tincture of red, like the damask rose, and its diameter about two feet. 

" Fully satisfied that this was nothing ordinary, I went toward it for more accurate 
examination. 

" While my eye was constantly upon it, I went on four or five steps, when it came to 
me from the distance of eleven rods, as quick as lightning, and instantly assumed a 
personal form with a female dress, but did not appear taller than a girl seven years old. 
While I looked upon her, I said in my mind, ' You are not tall enough for the woman 
who has so frequently appeared among us.' Immediately she grew up as large and as tall 
as I considered that woman to be. Now she appeared glorious. On her head was the 
representation of the sun diffusing the luminous rectilinear rays everywhere to the ground. 
Through the rays I saw the personal form, and the woman's dress. Then I recollected 
the objection of the EncyclopsBdia, that 'ghosts always appear to one alone.' Now, said 
my mind, I see you as plainly as ever I saw a person on earth ; but were I to converse 
with you an hour, what proof could I produce that I ever conversed with you at all ? 
This, with my fear, was the reason why I did not speak to her. But my fear was con- 
nected with ineffable pleasure. 

" Life, simplicity, purity, glory, all harmonizing in this celestial form, had the most 
delightful effect on my mind. And there appeared such a dullness afterwards upon all 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 491 

corporeal objects as I never perceived before. I went into the honse and gave the in- 
formation, not doubting that she had come to spend some time with us, as she had before. 
We went out to see her again ; but to my great disappointment, she had vanished. Then 
I saw one of the great errors of my life. That I had not spoken to her, has been the 
matter of my regret from that hour to this." 

"Some time in March, 1806, she talked a few minutes without appearing, at eight 
o'clock in the morning, and promised to come again that day ; at two o'clock she per- 
formed her promise, and talked with four people two hours. It was then she uttered 
these words : 'Though my body is consumed, and all turned to dust, my soul is as much 
alive as before I left the body.' This conversation was indeed in the cellar, but the place 
was enlightened with her radiance. 

"May 21st. — At ten o'clock, she appeared to two persons, and sent a message to 
another. 

" May 25th. — Ten o'clock. Appeared and conversed with two witnesses, while a third 
person heard the conversation ; and revealed that by which the same was proved to 
others. 

" May 26th. — She appeared at eight o'clock in the morning, and talked with four 
persons an hour and a half. In half an hour after, she appeared and talked with the 
same four persons, while two others heard a voice, without knowing what was said. 

" May 27th. — Talked with two persons, and promised to be present at a meeting of 
about twenty people, which was to be held the next day in the evening. Accordingly she 
appeared at this meeting to persons who were ignorant of the promise. The assembly 
was immediately interrupted by the declaration that 'the spirit is come.' The next 
evening after, she conversed with a couple of persons, and told them by her inimitable 
voice to whom she had appeared. . . . 

"Her conversation was always with grace, seasoned with salt, very affecting and 
delightful. 

"August 13th. — At ten o'clock, she talked with three persons invisibly. At two 
o'clock the same day, she appeared and talked to three people in the hearing of five 
other persons." 



"Of forty depositions and affidavits given by as many different persons in reference to 
this remarkable affair, we insert the following as specimens. The first is from one who 
appears to have been constitutionally sceptical, and whose very circumstantial testimony 
is on that account all the more valuable. 

"TESTIMONY OF MISS HANNAH BATCOMB. 

" August 9th, 10th. — I was at the house of Mr. Blaisdell by the persuasion of others ; 
for as to myself, I made very light of the matter, supposing that the whole was the con- 
trivance of certain persons. 

" We heard rappings, and these sounds were spoken to, but no answer obtained. After 
much altercation (which is needless to rehearse), we all came out of the cellar, and all went 
off, except a few persons, of whom I was one. Some of Mr. Blaisdell's family uttered 
severe expressions against those vsho went off and did not believe. ' What do you want 
they should believe,' said I ; ' for my part, I see nothing to believe.' Immediately Mrs. 
Butler came in from the entry, very much afirighted. ' If any one desires to be con- 
vinced,' said she, ' let him look there in the entry.' I looked there and saw nothing. 
Soon after this, while Mrs. Butler was sitting on the foot of a bed, we heard a sound right 
against her on the outside of the house. Mr. Butler told her to speak to it. At first she 
refused. They told her she must. Then she said to it, ' If I am guilty, stay away ; if I 
am clear, in the name of the Lord, clear me.' The spirit then rapped very hard, so as to 
shake the house. Some of the company said she must go into the cellar. ' So I must,' 
said she ; ' if I do not, she will come into the room ; and if she does, I shall die. W^o 

will go with me ?' D A said she would go. They went, and soon after we all 

went down. Then I plainly heard the voice say to Mrs. Butler, ' Go up, that the people 
may not think it is you who speak.' I saw her go up into the room, and heard at the 
same time the voice in the cellar. Mr. Blaisdell asked the spirit whence she came. She 
answered, ' I am from heaven. I am with God and Christ, angels and seraphim, praising 
God. Glory, glory, glory ! ' 

" Mr. Blaisdell asked why she did not manifest herself in the forepart of that night 
to all the people. She answered, " I was not permitted to come where there was so 
much sin.' 

" The spirit then said to Mr. Blaisdell, ' Ask the people if they are convinced.' 

'' He did so ; and I among the rest answered that I was. 



492 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" Then the spirit said, ' I must appear ; ' and by her direction we placed ourselves in 
order. Then I saw a white appearance, at first not more than a foot in height, but it 
appeared larger and larger, and more plainly ; and when it came nearer to me, I was struck 
with fear, and left the cellar ; but others told me that afterwards they saw the spirit 
plainly. 

"August 13th, 14th. — I again went to Mr. Blaisdell's with forty-seven persons. 

" The spirit now told us again that she was from heaven, and that she was once Nelly 
Hooper. After much conversation, the spirit said that some of the "people were faint, 
and could not hear all that was to be said, and that we must go up and refresh ourselves. 

" ' You must go with me to two places this night,' said she, ' and you must be ready 
at one o'clock.' 

'' ' What o'clock is it now ? ' said Mr. Blaisdell. 

" She said, ' Twelve, twelve, twelve ! ' 

" We went up immediately and looked on the watch, and it was exactly twelve. 

" In a short time, hearing the usual sign, we returned. Among many other words 
which I do not remember, Mr. Downing asked the spirit if she knew him ; she answered, 
* Yes,' and called him by name. He asked her if she was ever at his house. She answered 
that she had been once there with her mother. At length she told us that we must go 
up, and she would walk with us behind, with Mrs. Butler. ' But you must walk in 
order, two and two,' said she, ' singing a psalm ; for God is a God of order.' Some 
person asked when she would be ready. She said, ' I will let you know.' 

'■ Some person again asked what o'clock it was. She answered one. We went up and 
again looked on the watch, and it was one. We attended prayer, and immediately after 
she knocked. A psalm was chosen, which the greatest number of us could best remember, 
and it was sung as we walked. I was now far forward, and did not see the spirit. When 
we came to Captain Millar's the spirit rapi^ed there, and Captain Millar, with Captain 
Paul Blaisdell, and some others, went into the cellar, and I heard them talk, but could 
not understand what was said to them. Then word came to us that we must stand out in 
the field before the house — that she would appear before us, and walk with Mrs. Butler, 
that the people might be convinced that Mrs. Butler had told the truth in relating that 
she had walked with her before. Then we all stood before the house. Mrs. Butler put 
on a black cloak, and when she had walked a little distance from us, as before directed 
by the spirit, I heard her groan bitterly, and soon after I saw the appearance of a woman 
in white walking with her. Suddenly Mrs. Butler sung a part of that hymn called ' New 
Jerusalem.' Then she came to us, and we all went back in order to Mr. Blaisdell's. I 
then looked back and saw a person in white, walking with Mrs. Butler. After we 
returned to the house, Mrs. Butler ajjpeared very weary and exhausted. 

" I asked her at what time the spirit came to her. She told me it was after she had 
walked a little distance from the people. ' When you heard me groan,' said she, ' then I 
saw it coming towards me ; I am always more afraid when I only see it than I am after 
it has spoken to me ; and she then told me not to be scared, that she was not come to 
hurt me, and that if I would sing a hymn it would expel my fears.' 



" The following is the testimony of Captain Millar, whose house was the scene of the 
remarkable visitation above mentioned : — 

"testimony of captain JAMES MILLAB. 

" August 7th. — Mr. Blaisdell came to my house, and desired me to go to his own, 
where I might hear and see for myself. He also went to Capt. Samuel Simson's with the 

same request. Capt. Simson and his wife, S B , and N G , who were 

there, came with him to my house, and we all went to Mr. Blaisdell's. When we had 
been there some minutes, Capt. Simson, by desire, prayed. His prayer was immediately 
followed by a knocking, and we all went into the cellar. Mr. Blaisdell asked what was 
wanted, and who it was. It answered, ' I was once Nelly Hooper.' I asked, ' How was 
man made ?' ' Out of the dust,' said the voice ; ' dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou 
return. You have the Bible, and that is God's truth, and do you abide by it. Love God, 
and keep His commandments.' After some conversation with Mrs. Simson and others, 
she said, ' I must go,' and we heard no more. It was now broad daylight, the outer 
cellar door being open, and utterly impossible that any living person should be there but 
those whom we could see and know. The voice was about six feet from me. 

" August 9th. — I went to that house with many people, among whom I observed much 
disorderly behaviour. The spirit spoke but little, and I returned with a resolution to go 
no more to that house on such an errand. 

" August 14th.— Just before daylight, I heard singing as I lay in bed, approaching to 
my house. Presently, by my leave, my house was filled with people, and I heard knock- 
ings on the floor. By the desire of certain persons, I went into the cellar with Capt. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 493 

Paul Blaisdell. After some discourse of the voice with him, which I understood not, I 
heard sounds of knocking near me. I asked, ' What do you want of me ?' It answered, 
' I have come to let you know that I can speak in this cellar as well as in the other. Are 
you convinced ?' I answered, ' I am.' ' Now,' said the voice, ' the company must be 
solemn, and stand in order before your door ; I am going to appear. Now, do you 
remember that I was once Nelly Hooper ?' We went up, and complied with her direction, 
and I saw a personal shape coming towards us, white as the light. By the spectre's order, 
as I was informed, Mrs. Butler went towards her, ' Lydia,' said the spectre, ' you are 
scared, you must sing.' Then she sung a hymn. The spirit came almost to us, then 
turned, and Mrs. Butler with her, and went several rods towards Capt. Simson's, and 
appeared to take her by the hand, to urge her on further, and disappeared in our sight. 
Mrs. Butler returned, and informed the company, as I was told, that if they would walk 
to Mr. Blaisdell's solemnly, as to a funeral, the spirit would walk with Mrs. Butler, 
behind them. The company did so. But I, being far forward, saw nothing. 

"James Millar." 
testimony of mrs. mart jordan. 

" On the 4th of August, 1800, about two hours before daylight, while I slept at Mr. 
Blaisdell's house, I was awaked by the sound of knocking. I got up, and with about 
twenty others went into the cellar. There I heard a voice speaking to us, as I never 
heard before nor since. It was shrill, but very mild and pleasant. 

" Mr. Blaisdell, addressing the voice, said that several persons (of whom I was one) 
had come from a distance to obtain satisfaction, and desired that she would tell us who 
she was, and the design of her coming.' 

" She answered that she was once Nelly Hooper, and after she was married became 
Nelly Butler. 

" After much conversation of a religious nature, she appeared to us. At first the 
apparition was a mere mass of light ; then it grew into a personal form, about as tall as 
myself. We stood in two ranks, about four feet apart. Between these ranks she slowly 
passed and repassed, so that any of us could have handled her. When she passed by 
me, she was so near that if she liad been a substance I should certainly have felt it. The 
apparition had a constant tremulous motion. At last the personal form became shapeless, 
expanded every way, and vanished in a moment. 

" Nothing more being now seen or heard, we were moving to go up, when the voice 
desired us to tarry longer. 

" We did so, and the spirit talked with us another hour, even till broad daylight. She 
mentioned to us the ill-treatment which Mr. Blaisdell's family had suffered by reproach 
and false accusation, and told us they Wbuld on her account be yet more despised and 
ridiculed. 

" Her discourse concluded by a solemn exhortation. After speaking much more that I 
cannot remember, she sang praises, and left us. Her notes were very pleasant. Her 
words were no higher than common, yet they were exceedingly impressive. 

" Mary Jordan." 

" testimony op mrs. wentworth (sister op the apparition). 

"On the 2nd of January, 1800, Hannah Blaisdell came to Mr. Butler's house, and 
informed me that the extraordinary voice which they had heard, had declared itself to be 
that of my sister, and that I must go to her father's house. 

" I replied to her face that I did not beUeve it. The next day I received the same 
message from three other persons of other families, to whom I returned the same answer. 

" Nevertheless, I was at last persuaded, and accompanied Capt. Butler and my husband 
to Mr. Blaisdell's house. Capt. Butler and I examined the cellar with a candle. Capt. 
Simson and some other.s went with us. 

" I held Lydia (Mrs. Butler) by the arm, when we heard a loud knocking, and the 
sound of a voice which brought fresh to my mind my sister's voice. 

" This voice spoke several sentences, which were such as my sister used to utter, and 
from this time I cleared Lydia of the voice, and accused the devil. 

" August 8th. — Was there again with about thirty others, and heard much conversation. 
The voice was still hoarse and thick, like that of my sister on her deathbed, but more 
hollow. Sometimes it was clear and pleasant. 

" August 14th. — I heard the same voice in the same place, and did then believe it was 
my sister. She talked much with Capt. Simson, and exhorted the people. I heard a 
private conversation which I had with my sister in her life-time, and which I had never 
repeated to any one. We were alone together ; but may it not have been overheard by 
some evil spirit who now personates my sister ? I know of no reason for her coming. 

"Sally Wentwobth," 



494 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" TESTIMONY OP MR. JAMES SPRINGER. 

"August 13th, 1800. — After much conversation with the spectre, she told us that she 
must talk and appear at the house of Capt. MiUar, because he had reported that she 
could not be anywhere but at Mr. Blaisdell's house. ' And Lydia must walk with me,' 
she said, ' that you may all see that she is one person, and I another.' 

" We walked in order, two and two, to the house, and I saw the spirit appear and dis- 
appear several times. 

" Whilst we were at Capt. Millar's house, we stood in the field, whilst Mrs. Butler, in 
great fear, walked with the spirit, before our eyes, a few rods towards Mr. Simson's. 

" Then Mrs. Butler came to us and said we must return to her father's house, two and 
two, singing a hymn, and she and the spectre would walk with us. We did so. Mr. Paul 
Simson and I walked behind, if possible to see the apparition. When we had walked 
about fifteen rods, I saw a white appearance to the left hand. As we passed it, it fell 
into rank, and walked with Mrs. Butler. Mr. Downing and I turned and looked upon 
them, and heard them talk. We kept walking on, then stopping to look at them, all the 
way. We heard them speaking all the time, but in a low voice. The spirit appeared in 
a jiersonal form, with arms locked, as white as snow, and about as tall as Mrs. Butler. 

" Soon after daybreak I saw it plainly vanish. "James Springer." 

Most of the affidavits are to the same effect as the above. Many of 
them state that the spirit often appeared, bearing a very small child in her 
arms. That the particles of luminous matter that seemed to compose her 
were tremulous, in constant motion, presented no resistance to the touch, 
and were always white and shining. 

All the witnesses saw her with more or less distinctness, and all heard 
her voice, and bore testimony to its remarkable shrillness, and " inimitable " 
peculiarity. 

Mr. Cummings' pamphlet concludes with the following summary of the 
manifestations. 

" At first, the terror of the persons who beheld her was excited by the idea of be- 
holding a ' ghost,' yet after a little discourse with her, their fears were entirely dissipated, 
and succeeded by a singular pleasure, so delightful was the mode of her address and 
conversation 

" The spirit was always extremely disposed to piety ; sang hymns, uttered prayers, 
exhorted, quoted Scripture, and joined with her wonderfully sweet but indescribable 
voice in the singing of hymns with others. 

" This same voice, though inimitable, most nearly resembled her own as she was 
remembered when she lay dying. 

" This apparition impressed all witnesses with feelings of pleasure and reverence, 
except in rare instances, one of which occurred at that assembly held in the cellar on the 
night of August 9th, when, as I have said, there were gathered some of the best of people, 
who conducted themselves with order and reverence ; but others there were, who uttered 
such profanity and derision as rendered them unworthy to obtain conviction ; and there- 
by, as the spirit afterwards declared, she could not manifest herself amongst them, so 
that save some knockings and a few sentences spoken, no tokens of her presence could be 
given. 

" The spectre gave a number of extraordinary messages, of which the marriage was but 
one, and that a subordinate one to other ends of far superior magnitude and importance. 

" These superior ends you will know hereafter, but they cannot, they must not be 
written " 

No doubt can exist that if the parties interested in these strange pheno- 
mena could have considered and investigated them with the same practised 
coolness that characterizes the visitors of our modern spirit circles, most 
valuable and important views of spirit life, its laws and conditions, might 
have been gathered from such unusual opportunities for the enquiry ; but 
amidst the fear, ignorance, and superstition which have for centuries 
obscured man's views of spiritual existence, it was next to impossible that 
even one risen from the dead should be able to bring conclusive evidence 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 495 

of her presence, or inform the prejudiced and bigoted concerning the true 
conditions of spirit life. 

StilL, the details of this remarkable case are too circumstantial and well 
attested to leave room for doubt concerning its main facts, and they 
unquestionably form one of the most singular and authentic evidences of 
direct spirit communion that the annals of history can furnish in America, 
prior to the great outpouring from which the modern movement of 
Spiritualism dates in 1848. 



CHAPTER LVIL 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED). 

Further Accounts of Early Manifestations in the Nineteenth Century, 

The following case though well known, and frequently cited in the 
literature of Supernaturalism, may not be deemed — in a condensed form — 
out of place in this record : — 

" A TRANCE SPEAKER. 

"In 1811, 'Miss Rachel Baker, the Sleeping Preacher,' recorded at the time as 'a 
remarkable case of Devotional Soinnism,' attracted much attention. While sitting in a 
chair, apparently iisleep, she began to sigh and groan, as if in excessive pain. She talked 
incoherently. These conditions came at brief intervals for two months. The talking 
then became understandable. The account says : ' Her body is as motionless as a statue. 
The only motion the spectator perceives is that of her organs of speech. She commences 
and ends with an address to the throne of grace, consisting of proper topics of acknow- 
ledgment, submission, and reverence ; of praise and thanksgiving, and of prayer for 
herself, her friends, the church, the nation, for enemies, and the human race in general. 
Between these is her sermon or exhortation. She begins without a text, and proceeds 
with an even course to the end ; embellishing it sometimes with fine metaphors, vivid 
descriptions, and poetical quotations.' These 'fits,' as the entrancements were then 
termed, occurred always at night. They each continued from thirty-five to ninety-eight 
minutes. At the close of the address follows ' a state of body,' continues the account, 
' like groaning, sobbing, or moaning ; and the distressful sound continues from two minutes 
to a quarter of an hour. This agitation, however, does not wake her ; it gradually sub- 
sides, and she passes into a sound and natural sleep, which continues during the remainder 
of the night. In the morning she wakes as if nothing had happened, and entirely ignorant 
of the scenes in which she has acted. She declares she knows nothing of the nightly 
exercises, except from the information of others.' But they did not look upon these 
things in those days as they do in our own more enlightened time. Every conceivable 
form of medical treatment failed to ' cure ' her, until, in 1816, Dr. Sears of New York 
drugged her so completely with opium that he put a stop to her power to pray, preach, 
and exhort." 

The voucher for the next narrative being " the Rev. Giles B. Stebbins," 
a name recognized by American Spiritualists as a synonym for judgment 
and acumen, as well as the strictest integrity, needs no other introduction 
than Mr. Stebbins's own words. Writing to the Detroit Fosf he says : — 

" The following narrative of a wonderful experience I noted down carefully when it 
was related to me by Henry Willis, of Battle Creek, whom I have known for years as a 
man of integrity, uncommon energy in business, clear intellect, strong nerve, and fine 
physical health. He came from Pennsylvania to oversee the building of the Michigan 
Oentral Railroad, has been well known in this region since, enjoys good health at 



496 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

seventy years of age, as a result of his Quaker temperance, and has a fair competence, 
which might have been much larger had not his hospitality and pubUc spirit been gener- 
ous and active. The reference to well-known residents of this city makes this narrative 
of additional interest. M. W. Baldwin was the first locomotive builder in America, and 
gave name to the great locomotive works of Baldwin and Co., in Philadelphia. He was 
an intimate friend of Mr. Willis all his life, connected with him in business, and on cordial 
and familiar terms. I give the words of Henry "Willis as given to me by himself. He 
has seldom told this strange story, and could only be induced to allow its publicity as a 
possible help to psychological and spiritual research. He said : 

" ' In July, 1838, M. W. Baldwin, of Philadelphia, Penn., came with me to Detroit, 
intending to start a branch locomotive shop on Cass wharf. We remained nearly three 
weeks in Detroit altogether. I was at that time engaged to build a railroad from Kala- 
manzoo to Allegan. I think it was on a Thursday morning I left my friend Baldwin for 
Allegan ; he was to leave by a steamboat at ten o'clock of the same day for his home. As 
I passed through Marshall on Friday, Ketchum requested me to go to Sandusky, Ohio, 
and purchase provisions for our railroad men, as there were none to be had on our route, 
the country being new. I came on and stopped at Battle Creek to visit. On Saturday 
and Sunday I became very uneasy. I was frequently asked if I was unwell. My mind 
was much depressed, but I bore up and endeavoured to be cheerful, and after meeting left 
for Sandusky in company with friends living near Adrian. At Tecumseh I stopped to 
take the stage, and paid my fare to Sandusky. The stage drove up within fifteen or 
twenty feet of the door of the hotel. I handed the driver my carpet-bag ; and as I put 
my foot on the step to get in I felt a heavy blow on the back of my neck, and the words, 
" Go to Detroit " were as audibly, but inwardly, heard as I ever heard anything. I turned 
to see who struck me. No one except the driver before me, was nearer than the hotel, 
twenty feet off. I stood astonished, and passengers and driver shouted, " Why don't you 
get aboard ? " I said, " Driver, h^ind me my bag." I took it, went to the hotel, and asked 
the landlord who it was that struck me on the back of my neck. "I saw you," said he, 
" give a bound as you put your foot on the step, but no one struck you, I know, for I was 
looking directly at you. What is the matter ? " he asked. " I must go to Detroit," I said, 
"and cannot imagine why, or for what. I have no business there." The Chicago stage 
drove up in a moment or two. I mounted the seat with the driver, handed him fifty 
cents to drive as fast as he could. I repeated it with the next diiver. I felt as though I 
wanted to fly, so anxious was I to reach the station. As we turned out of Main Street I 
saw an engine on the track. The engineer said to the fireman, as I afterwards learned, 
" Let us go ; we can't find Willis." The fireman looked around, saw the stage, and said : 
" Stop ; Willis must be in that stage." He jumped down, ran and met us some 300 feet 
off. I knew him and said : " Why, Jack, what on earth is the matter ? " and he answered : 
" Baldwin fell down sick in the hotel two or three hours after you left last Thursday. 
His great wish has been to have you with him. We have been out for days to try and 
find you. This morning when we left it was doubtful if he lived till night." We went 
to Detroit as fast as the engine could go. I ran to the hotel, and as 1 reached the head 
of the stairs the landlord and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Wales, Dr. Hurd, and five or six of the 
servants were at the door. Dr. Hurd said, " He is gone." I pushed into the room, threw 
off my coat, and applied my hands over his head and down the sides of his face and neck 
as vigorously as I could for some five or six minutes, when he spoke : " Henry, where have 
you been ? where have I been ? Oh, how much I have wanted you with me ! " Dr. Hurd 
said, " Well, if that is not bringing a man to life, what is ? " This action of mine, like 
magnetizing, I cannot account for. I never did it before or ever saw it done. He was in 
a trance or spasm, but not dead. Dr. Hurd told me his symptons were those of a dying 
man. I remained seven weeks with him, never sleeping in all that time on a bed, except about 
four or five hours when 0. C. Trowbridge and Augustus Porter relieved me. I took him 
home on a cot to his family in Philadelphia, he not having been able to sit up for some 
eight or nine weeks. I think it was in 1844 or 1845 I was at work in my nursery of fruit 
trees, at Battle Creek, with my mind then, as it often had been, on this strange and to me 
unaccountable matter — how I was some sixty miles from Detroit, going directly away to 
the South, and on important business ; and why I should have changed my course, and 
a voice said to me : " The spirit of Baldwin's father was after you to go and save his son 
and take him to his family." Down to this time I had never told a living being about 
this singular affair, not even Baldwin himself. From the moment that I was thus notified 
in my nursery why I went to Detroit, I ceased to wonder, and was, and still am, convinced 
that there was an invisible power that followed me from the time I arrived at Battle 
Creek until I took Baldwin to his home.' 

" Any comments on these remarkable facts would be superfluous. They give, surely, 
abundant food for thought. 

" Detroit, March 27, 1877. " G, B, Stebbins," 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 497 

Whilst making collections of narratives in New York city some years ago, 
the author was favoured with the receipt of the following account, furnished 
by a gentleman of the strictest veracity and a man " whose word has been 
as good as his bond," for over half a century of time to all his friends and 
neighbours. The account is given in a letter to Dr. Mitchell, of New York, 
and has recently been admitted into '' Day's Historical Collections of 
Pennsylvania." It runs as follows : — 

"Meadville, Penn., June 21st, 1816." 

" Dear Sir : — I now give you an account of a very singular case ; possibly you may 
have met with something analogous to it in your researches, but so far as my inquiries 
have extended, it is without parallel. 

" Mr. Wm. Reynolds, his wife and children, a respectable family, originally citizens of 
Birmingham, in Great Britain, settled in the vicinity of Oil Creek, twenty-seven miles 
from this village, in the year 1797. Miss Mary Reynolds, one of his daughters, is the 
subject of this communication, upon which I shall be happy to see your animadversions. 
For five years, she has exhibited the phenomenon of a person vested with two distinct 
consciousnesses. I became acquainted with Miss Reynolds soon after my removal to this 
place, in May, 1815, when she was in exercise of her original consciousness, the last even- 
ing of which she spent at my house. The following evening I was at her brother's, 
where there was considerable companji, of which she was one. To my surprise, when I 
spoke to her, she had no knowledge of me ; I was, therefore, introduced to her anew. My 
curiosity was excited ; and it was gratified by a history of her singular case. 

" After arriving at adult age, she was occasionally afflicted with fits. In the spring of 
1811, she had a very severe visitation of this kind ; her frame was convulsed, and she was 
extremely ill for several days, when she became totally blind and deaf. During twelve 
weeks she continued in a very feeble state ; but at the end of five weeks, the use of her 
visual and auditory faculties was perfectly restored. A little before the expiration of the 
twelve weeks, one morning when she awoke, she appeared to have lost all recollection of 
everything which she ever knew. 

"Her understanding, with an imperfect knowledge of speech, remained; but her 
father, mother, brothers, sisters and neighbours, were altogether strangers to her. She 
had forgotten the use of written language, and did not know a single letter of the 
alphabet, nor any domestic employment, more than a new born babe ; she, however, 
presently began to regain various kinds of knowledge. She continued five weeks in this 
way when she suddenly passed from this ' second state ' (as for distinction it may be 
called) into her first. All circumstances of the five weeks just elapsed, were totally gone, 
and her original consciousness was fully restored ; now the cloud which had overspread 
her mental hemisphere, was dissipated ; her kindred and friends were all Mt once recog- 
nized. Every kind of knowledge which she had ever acquired was as much at her com- 
mand as at any former period of her life, but of the time and of all events which had 
transpired during her second state, she had not the most distant idea. For three weeks 
she continued in her first state, but in her sleep the transition was renewed, and she 
awoke in her second state. As before, so now, all knowledge acquired in her first state 
was forgotten, and of the circumstances of her three weeks lucid interval, she had no 
conception ; but of the small fund of knowledge she had gained in the former second 
state, she was able to avail herself, and she continued from day to day to add to this. 

" From the spring of 1811 Miss Reynolds has been in this wonderful condition, frequently 
changing from her first to her second, and from her second to her first state ; more than 
three-quarters of her time she has been in her second state. There is no periodical 
regularity as to the transition. Sometimes she continues several months and sometimes 
a few weeks, a few days, or only a few hours in her second state, but in the lapse of five 
years she has been in one instance more than twenty days in her first state. Whatever 
knowledge she has acquired at any time in her second state is familiar to her whenever 
in that state ; and now she has made such proficiency, she is as well acquainted with 
things, and is in general as intelligent in her second as in her first state. It is about 
three years since an attempt was first made to reteach her chirography. Her brother 
gave her a name, which he had written, to copy. She readily took a pen, agreeable to 
his request, and it is a fact that she actually began to write it, though in a very awkward 
manner, from the right to the left in the Hebrew mode. It was not long before she 
obtained a tolerable skill in penmanship, and in her second state often amused herself by 
writing poetry, yet in her first state this is an exercise which she seldom if ever attempts. 
It may be remarked that she acquires all kind of knowledge in her second state with 
much greater facility than would a person never before instructed. In her second state 

33 



498 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

she has now been introduced to many persons whom she always recognizes when in that 
state, and no one appears to enjoy the society of friends better than this young lady ; 
but if ever so well known to her in her first state, she has no knowledge of them in her 
second till an acquaintance, de novo, is formed ; and in like manner, all acquaintances 
formed in her second state, must be formed in her first also, in order to be known in that. 

" This astonishing transition, scores of times repeated, always takes place iu her sleep. 
In passing from her second to her first state nothing is particularly noticeable in her 
sleep ; but in passing from her first to her second state, her sleep is so profound that no 
one can wake her, and it not unfrequently continues eighteen or twenty hours. She 
generally has some presentiment of the change, and frequently for several days before the 
event. Her sufi'erings formerly, in the near prospect of the transition from either th© one 
or the other state, were extreme. When in one state, she had no consciousness of ever 
having been in the other ; but of the wonderful fact she was persuaded on the representa- 
tion of her friends, hence when about to undergo the transition, fearing she would never 
revert so as to know again in this world those who were dear to her, her feelings in this 
tespect were not unlike the feelings of one entering the valley of the shadow of death ; 
but she has now so often passed from one state to the other, that she does not anticipate 
the change viTith that horror or distressing apprehension with which for a considerable 
time she used to do. 

" As an evidence of her ignorance in her second state, at an early period, she was 
once walking at a Kttle distance from her father's house, and discovered a rattlesnake. 
She was delighted at the beautiful appearance of this, to her unknown, dangerous 
reptile, and sprang forward to catch it. Fortunately, the serpent lay near a hole under a 
log, and as she seized it by its rattle it thrust its head in, and she was not able to draw 
it out. At another time she was riding in a narrow path alone in the woods, and met a 
bear, which did not seem disposed to give her the path. She boldly rode up to the huge 
animal, and in a very imperious style ordered him out of her way ; and she was upon 
the point of dismounting to belabour him with her whip when he peaceably ' cleared off.' 

" This young lady is naturally of a cheerful disposition, but thoughtful. In her second 
state her imagination glows, her wit is keen, her remarks are often shrewd and satirical, 
and her prejudices, conceived without cause, against her best friends, are sometimes very 
strong. "Timothy Aldbn." 

As it may assist the student of psychological physiology to observe the 
relations, as well as the differentiation of two very remarkable instances of 
abnormal existence, we shall introduce in this place a brief notice of a case 
which has excited the attention of thousands of persons both within and 
without the ranks of the medical profession, and one which has called forth 
more remarks from the secular papers, than any other instance of the kind 
known to modern science. 

We speak of Miss MoUie Fancher, of Brooklyn, N.Y., whose condition 
may be found summarized in the following extracts from the columns of 
the London Spiritualist oi June, 1879. The details are given in a letter 
addressed to a lady from Dr. C. E. West, of Brooklyn Heights Seminary, 
the former preceptor of the unfortunate invalid. Dr. West says : — 

"Brooklyn, October 8th, 1878." 
" Dear Madam, — You request me to write a brief sketch of Miss MoUie Fancher, in 
answer to the many inquiries which have been made by those who have examined the 
beautiful specimens of her needlework sent to your loan exhibition, and which were 
wrought during a most extraordmary illness of more than twelve years' duration. To 
give anything like an adequate account of this remarkable girl would require a treatise. 
This I cannot attempt. 

"Miss Mary J. Fancher was born in Attleboro', Mass., Aug. 16th, 1848, and was edu- 
cated at the Brooklyn Heights Seminary under my care. She was a sweet girl, of delicate 
organization and nervous temperament, and was highly esteemed for her pleasing manners 
and gentle disposition. She was an excellent scholar, excelling in hdlcs lettres studies ; 
but her delicate health led to her removal from school a short time before the graduation 
of her class in 1864. For three years I lost sight of her, till I learned from a Brooklyn 
paper of her singular condition, which resulted from a remarkable accident. 

" Her aunt soon after called and invited me to visit ' Mollie,' as she is familiarly called. 
I did so, March 4th, 1867, and from that time until the present I have been an intimate 
visitor of the family. I have kept a journal of my visits and noted all that was important 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



499 



which came under my observation, I have used all the sagacity I possess to discover any 
fraud or collusion ; but I have never seen anything to excite my suspicion or shake my 
confidence in her integrity. She is a Christian girl, and shrinks from any public exhibi- 
tion of herself. Spiritualists and curiosity-seekers have sought access to her, but have 
failed. The power of discriminating character is so great that she is rarely ever imposed 
upon. 

" The facts to which attention is called can be fully verified. They are as follows : — 

"May 10th, 1864. — She was thrown from a horse and severely injured. 

"June 8th, 1865. — In attempting to leave a street car her skirt caught, and she was 
dragged for a block over the pavement. 

" Feb. 2nd, 1866. — She was taken seriously ill. Her nervous system was completely 
deranged. Her head and feet coming together, she would roll like a hoop. She would 
also stand^n her toes and spin like a top. Several persons were required to prevent her 
from doing personal injury to herself. 

" Feb. 8th, 1866. — She went into a trance, and was, to all appearance, dead, 

" Feb. 17th. — She lost her eyesight. 

" Feb. 18th. — She lost her speech. 

" Feb. 1 9th. — She lost her hearing. 

" Feb. 22nd. — She saw, she spoke and heard for half-an-hour, and then for a time she 
lost these faculties, 

" Feb. 23rd. — She lost the sense of sound, 

" Feb. 24th.— The fingers closed, 

" Feb. 25th.— The jaws locked. 

" Feb, 26th.— The legs took a triple twist, 

" March 7th. — The spasms were violent. 

"May 20th, 1866. — She asked for food, ate a small piece of cracker, and^took a tea- 
spoonful of punch — it being the first food she had taken in seven weeks. 

"May 27th, 1866. — She was shocked by thunder, and again lost her speech. 

"May 28th, 1866. — She went into a rigid trance at 2.80 o'clock, which lasted till 
11.30 A.M., the next day. She then passed into a trance till June 1st, 

"June 2nd, 1866. — ^Nourishment was forced by a pump into her stomach, which threw 
her into convulsions. She was unconscious and sufi'ered intensely till Sunday evening, 
June 3rd, when her throat closed, and she was unable to take any nourishment or utter a 
sound. 

" These items are taken from the diary of Mollie's aunt, who made a daily record of 
her condition. I have copied but a few of them, to show the beginning of her remark- 
able illness. 

"My first visit, as I have said, was March 4th, 1867. I found her lying on her right 
side, with her right arm folded under her head. Her fingers were clenched in the palm of 
her hand. The right hand and arm were paralyzed, as was her body generally, excepting 
her left arm. She was in a trance, and seemed to be in pain. She remained in this trance 
till the 8th, a shorter time than usual at this period of her illness, her trances often last- 
ing from ten to twelve days 

'' I now speak of her physical condition. For twelve years she has lain in one position 
on her right side. For nine years she was paralyzed, her muscles only relaxing under 
the influence of chloroform. For the last three years her muscles are so relaxed that her 
limbs can be moved without the aid of chloroform. While passing into this state her 
sufferings were intense. For days it did not seem possible that she could live. Her 
eyes were open and staring. For nine years they had been closed. Now they were open, 
never closing day nor night. They were sightless. She could swallow, but take no food ; 
even the odour of it was oflensive. During these twelve years' illness there have been 
times when for many days together she has been to all appearance dead. The slightest 
pulse could not be detected — there was no evidence of respiration. Her Umbs were as 
cold as ice, and had there not been some warmth about her heart she would have been 
buried. During all these years she has vii'tually lived without food. Water, the juice of 
fruits, and other liquids have been introduced into her mouth, but scarcely any of them 
ever make their way ti) her stomach. In the early part of her illness it collapsed, so that 
by placing the hand in the cavity her spinal column could be felt. There was no room 
for food. Her throat was rigid. Her heart enlarged. When I first saw her she had but 
one sense — that of touch. With that she could read with rapidity. This she did by 
running her fingers over the printed page. With the finder she could discriminate the 
photographs of pei-sous, the faces of callers, &c. She never sleeps, her rest being taken in 
trances. The most delicate work is done iu the night. The circulation is sluggish, and, 
as a consequence, there is very little animal heat. She longs to die, but says she cannot, 
as there is nothing to die. Such is a brief statement of her bodily condition. 

"To me her mental state is m^re extraordinary. Her power of clau-voyance, or second 



500 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

sight, is marvellously developed. All places in whicli she takes any interest are open to 
her mental view. Distance imposes no barriers. No retirement, however secluded, but 
yields to her penetrating gaze. She dictates the contents of sealed letters which have 
never been in her hands without the slightest error. She visits the family circles of her 
relations and acquaintances in remote places, and describes their attire and their occupa- 
tions. She points out any disorder of dress, however slight, as the basting thread in the 
sleeve of a sack which to ordinary sight was concealed by the arm. Any article which 
has been mislaid she sees and tells where it may be found. She discriminates in darkness 
the most delicate shades of colour with an accuracy that never errs. She works in 
embroidery and wax mthout patterns. She conceives the most beautiful forms and 
combinations of forms. She never studied botany or took a lesson in waxwork, and yet ■ 
she never mistakes the forms of leaf or flower. Holding a pen or pencil in her left hand, 
she writes with extraordinary rapidity. Her penmanship is handsome and legible. She 
once wrote a poem of ten verses in as many minutes — her thought flowing vsdth the 
rapidity of lightning. In cutting velvet leaves for pin-cushions, Uke the sample sent you, 
she held the scissors by the knuckles of thumb and fore-finger of the left hand, and 
bringing the velvet with thumb and finger of her right hand, she cut the leaves as shapely 
and without ravel, as though they had been cut with a punch. These leaves do not 
difier in size or form more than leaves growing on tree or shrub. In the early part of her 
sickness she cut more than two thousand such leaves. In April, 1875, she worked up 
2,500 ounces of worsted ; to December, 1875, she had written 6,500 notes and 
letters. She has kept an account of all the expenses of the family during her sickness. 
She keeps a daily journal except when in trances of longer duration than twenty-four 
hours. In passing into the new condition three years ago, of which I have spoken, she 
forgot everything that had occurred in the previous nine years. When she was able to 
speak, she inquired about matters that occurred at the beginning of her illness — the nine 
intervening years were a perfect blank to her. 

" But I must take leave of this subject. The incredulous will not accept it — and it is 
not surprising. Miss Fancher is not be judged by ordinary laws. The state is abnormal — 
a species of modified catalepsy, which has deranged the ordinary action of mind and body. 
It is a rich mine for investigation to the physiologist and the psychologist, and with them 
I leave the case. " Very respectfully, 

" Charles E. West." 

The following additional particulars of this wonderful case have since 
been published by Dr. West's permission in several of the local papers. 
We commend them to the Spiritualistic reader as being specially worthy of 
attention. 

In a conversation between Dr. West and a party of Brooklyn clergymen, 
the former says : — 

" To my knowledge she never has made a penny by her gifts, although having many 
opportunities to do so. . . . She knows who her visitors are long before they are 
ushered into the hall below, and she allows them to see her, or refuses, just as the whim 
takes her. I took Kossuth's sister there just before her departure for the Old World. 
Miss MolHe refused to see her. Afterward I asked Mollie for an explanation. ' Why, I 
didn't like her looks when she entered the door,' was the reply. The door is on the floor 
below. Another time I took a gentleman of reputation as a scholar. She directed that 
he be kept from her room, for the same reason — she did not like his looks. While she 
was blind I took a large man with a great black beard to her, and said, ' What do you 
think of this little man with a smooth, sharp chin ? ' and without turning her face, which 
was from us, she answered, ' He is very large, and has full whiskers. I can see him.' 
She knows what is going on all over the country, but whether from her marvellous sight- 
seeing, or because she reads it, I am unable to say. She is not willing to talk to visitors 
about her gifts. The topic is painful to her. "To her friends, however, she is more free, 
and she is quite willing at times to explain her sensations. She tells them where she 
goes and what she sees. 

" To the question asked by Dr. Channing, then present — ' Does she see friends who 
have gone before her ?' — the answer, given with great apparent reluctance, was ; ' Yes ; 
she sees many of them. She sees her mother ; she longs to be with her mother. She 
says her mother comes to her.' " 

The following extract from the Western Times refers to the testimony of 
a physician well known in New York and highly esteemed for learriing and 
truthfulness :— - 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 501 

"From the first, Dr. E. Fleet Speir, of 162, Montague Street, Brooklyn, has been Miss 
Fancher's physician. He has watched her case with unrelenting vigilance, and has made 
full memoranda of every symptom and every change. After she had declared that she 
could not partake of food, that it was nauseating and distasteful, he introduced nourish- 
ment through a silver tube. When she was to all appearances dead, he worked over her 
and restored her. One day he received a note from this curious patient, warning him 
that an attempt was to be made to rob him. He paid not more than passing attention to 
it ; but the next day some one entered his house and took therefrom a valuable case of 
surgical instrument's. When he has rung the door bell Miss Fancher has almost invariably 
called out : ' Aunt, please go down and let in the doctor.' Once or twice he has halted 
on the landing at the stair top, while some other visitor who accompanied him entered 
the room with Mrs. Crosby. Miss Fancher, after gi-eeting the new-comer, has said : 
' Why does the doctor wait outside ? Ask him to come in." She has been aware of his 
presence in the neighbourhood, and has told, when he was starting from his Montague 
Street residence, a mile away from her, that he was going to call upon her. Dr. Speir has 
taken Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Kissam, Dr. Crane, Dr. Ormiston, and many others of Brooklyn's 
best known physicians to see Miss Fancher. 

" It was Dr. Speir who, in the earlier stages of Miss Fancher's illness, tested whether 
she had partaken of food by going in suddenly upon her and administering an emetic. 
The drug gave her much pain, while the result was convincing that her stomach was 
empty. The nature of the medicine was well known to Miss Fancher, although it had 
been carefully kept from her. This event was just before she went into the rigid condition 
that lasted nine years. As soon as she emerged from this condition into that of relaxa- 
tion, three years ago, her memory of the nine years was gone, and she remembered only 
incidents of previous years. So nine and a half years after the administering of the test, 
as Dr. Speir entered the room Miss Fancher broke out with : ' You thought I didn't know 
why you gave me that medicine, but I did. You wanted to see whether food was in my 
stomach, and you learned that none was there. You won't do so again, will you ? ' 

The editor of the Western Times adds : — 

" Miss Fancher longs to die, yet she tells her friends she is afraid she cannot die. 
' There is nothing of me to die,' she says. Once, after a most death-like trance, in which 
it required hours of vigorous efforts to restore her, she uttered : ' Why did you not let me 
alone ? I think I might have died, had you allowed me to.' . . . 

" Some of her friends have seriously said : ' If death is the parting of the spirit from 
the body, and if Miss Mollie's spirit has been released from the bondage of the flesh, can 
she indeed ever die ? ' " 

That which the above narrative ought to suggest to every inteUigent 
reader is the revelation which Miss Fancher's condition makes, of the 
latent po^yers within every human soul. The Spiritual powers manifested 
by this poor invaUd must necessarily prove what is the normal condition of 
the Spirit, when the abnormal state of the physique permits that Spirit to 
act alone or in a manner independent of the body. Let it be observed that 
most of the effects manifested in Miss Fancher's case, are often witnessed 
in mesmerized or entranced subjects. Miss Fancher exhibits the power of 
the Spirit when the physical organism is subdued by sickness. The 
mesmerized subject displays the same Spiritual powers when his body is 
controlled by the magnetic fluid of a human operator, whilst the automatic 
trance Medium exhibits kindred, if not precisely similar states, when his 
mortal body is put to sleep by the magnetism of an invisible Spirit. 

These states are all graduated degrees of one condition ; to wit, the 
temporary suspension of bodily powers and the exaltation of the Spirit, or 
— as in the latter case — the substitution of a foreign intelligence for that 
of the entranced subject. It is unphilosophical on the part of the many 
scientific observers who have visited Miss Fancher, that they do not search 
out and examine kindred cases amongst the mesmerists and Spiritualists. 
The correllation of a multitude of cases drawn from different sources, would 
do far more to promote the best interests of science, and explain the 



502 NIXETEENTH CEXTURY MIRACLES. 

mysteries of soul life and powers, thaa ever can result from the childish 
experiments now so rife amongst would-be scientists called "thought read- 
ing." It is not an uncommon thing to see a traveUing mountebank who 
offers " to expose Spiritualism,"' placed on a rostrum with a lord bishop for 
his chairman, and a party of grave deans and vicars, &rc., (Sec, as his "moral 
supporters." 

Presently, one of the grave ministers of Christ is requested to hide a pin, 
a child's doll, top, or ball, or some such respectable toy, when the mounte- 
bank seizing hold of his reverence, drags him hither and thither in the 
dignified attitude of a pair of schoolboys playing at hide-and-seek, and 
when the mountebank succeeds in finding the toy, a large audience of 
grave professors cry, " Oh, how wonderful I " and a chorus of pious 
Christians send up hjTnns of praise to God because Mumbo Jumbo has 
exposed that wicked Spiritualism that has emptied the pews of the churches, 
and done so much harm to the world by telling it, that it would have to 
atone for its own sins, instead of having "a Saviour" to make atonement 
for it 

Poor Miss Fancher ! Her life is in truth but a living mart}Tdom, but if 
science demands its martyrs, and this poor girl's case is properly considered 
by science, when she herself becomes an enfranchised Spirit, she will 
scarcely deem that she has paid too heavy a penalty for her glorious crown. 

Returning once more to the few additional narratives we can give of 
Spiritualism in America prior to the Rochester knockings, we invite our 
readers' attention to the following extracts from the August, 1872, number 
of the Western Star. 

The following narrative, from the pen of Dr. Joseph Warren, D.D., of 
Tennessee, is not only vouched for on the authoritj- of its venerable author, 
but has been carefully investigated and testified to by several U-ving 
witnesses, one of whom (Squire Fisher) was actually present at the sea?ices 
described in the narrative. Dr. Warren, now a resident at Rome, favours 
the author with permission to publish his narrative in full, reserving only 
the real name of the family chiefly interested, for reasons which will appear 
sufficiently ob\ious to every intelligent reader. 

We shall endeavour to presen-e, as far as possible, the phraseology of our 
esteemed correspondent; but as the narrative occupies more space than 
would conform to the limits of om: record, we must content ourselves by 
giving such quotations as will be found of the most interesting character. 

It was in the year 1830 that Dr. Warren was solicited to fill the pulpit of 
a dear old friend, and former college companion of his, who had been 
suddenly struck with paralysis. The doctor had secluded himself from his 
ministerial duties for several months from an ardent desire to devote 
his time to literary pursuits ; but deeming that the change from his city 

residence in N , to the quiet of his friend's country parsonage might 

prove congenial to his present condition, he determined to comply with the 
invitation in question. 

The Rev. ]SIr. W , the friend whom he designed to oblige, had been 

the father of a son, whose wild and dissolute career had recently been 
terminated by self-destruction. Rumour alleged that if the unhappy young 
man had not put an end to his life by a deed of \iolence, the law was 
prepared to avenge upon him more than one act of murder, perpetrated, as 
it was currently reported, on the victims of his lawless passions. It was the 
shame and anguish of mind occasioned by the iniquitous career of this 
wretched son, that had reduced Mr. W to that condition of helpless- 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 503 

ness in which the aid of his kind and sympathizing friend, Dr. Warren, had 
been soUcited. 

On arriving at the scene of his intended labours, Dr. Warren found that 

the mansion and grounds formerly occupied by Mr. W 's family had 

been abandoned since the tragic death of his son ; in fact, the parent and 
child had long been estranged from each other, and the latter had pursued 
his course of riot and dissipation in the once stately family mansion, whilst 
his justly offended father had removed to a small cottage, situated as far as 
possible from the home thus desecrated. 

Here Dr. Warren took up his abode, and here for some months he con- 
tinued to minister to his suffering friend, and rural parishioners, with ever 
increasing acceptance. Dr. Warren goes on to say : — 

" After a few weeks' residence in the pariah which I had taken under my care, I began 
to be aware that strange rumours were prevalent concerning the house formerly occupied 
by my old friend, and of late abandoned to the occupancy of his profligate son. I was 
informed that the most unaccountable sounds and ghostly sights had been recently 
manifested there. The house was a large, handsome Southern residence, closely 
embosomed in thick pine woods, and removed about two miles from any other habitation. 
"Despite its secluded situation, and the evil reputation which attached to it, the 
lovely woods and shady forest paths that surrounded it had become a favourite resort of 
the children in the neighbourhood ; and it was from the fearful distsrbances that they 
encountered in their sports near the mansion, that the first tidings of hauntings had 
been derived. 

" In a little while the rustics, who had occasion to pass through the woods, and now 
and then the sportsmen pursmng their game in its well-stocked preserves, encountered, 
as they alleged, ghostly forms and fearful apparitions, whilst shrieks, groans, and 
concussive sounds of tremendous power, echoed and re-echoed from the path-like 
avenues that surrounded the building, ' making night hideous,' and compelling a strict 
but fruitless search to discover the source of these disturbances. On more than one 
occasion I was informed, by reliable witnesses, that the mansion had been seen through 
the woods at night brilliantly illuminated ; figures had been discerned passing before 
the windows, and fiitting along the terraces ; but when a determined body of the 
villagers sallied forth to ascertain who had thus invaded the solitude of the place, the 
lights vanished, the forms disappeared, and the most profound stillness succeeded to a 
loud hum of voices, and a chorus of sobs. ' The next morning, when I and four of my 
most sceptical acquaintances visited the house,' added one of my informants (Deacon 
Harvey), ' I pledge my honour there was not a footprint to be found in the dust that 
covered the rooms, passages, and stairways, and that, too, in the very chambers and 
galleries which I had with my own eyes seen blazing with lights, and crowded with forms 
of men and women passing and repassing.' 

" As time rolled on, the re^jorts of the hauntings became more frequent and circum- 
stantial. Numbers of persons, in whose good sense and veracity I had entire confidence, 
visited the place, and gave me accounts of their alarming experiences. The affair at 
length began to assume a serious aspect, and this was confirmed by a cautiously written 

account which appeared in the G Citizen,in which ihe editor detailed his experiences 

in visiting the possessed mansion, in company with Reuben Jacobs, Esq., a magistrate, 
and Mr. Stephen Moss, an engineer. As both these gentlemen were personally kiio-UTi to 
me, and their statements respecting the sights and sounds they had encountered were 
boldly affirmed over their own signatures, I began to attach a degree of importance 
to the case which I should never else have associated with a tale of the so-called 
' supernatural.' My final resolve to enter upon an investigation of these mysteries for 
myself, was confirmed by an account given me of several days' exploration in the haunted 

dwelling, by my friend and parishioner, Mr. Fisher, ex-mayor of N , and a man upon 

whose calm judgment and power of observation I felt able to rely. This gentleman 

assured me he had several times confronted the spirit of young W , and the forms 

of two girls supposed to have been murdered by him, and that in the open light of day, 
and with a tangibility of appearance which admitted of no doubt or question. He 
affirmed that he himself, with Reuben Jacobs, and Deacon Harvey, had sat in a deserted 
chamber, and all of them had simultaneously seen two women, in garments stained with 
blood, rise up from the floor and flee across the apartment, pursued by the shadowy form 

of young W . As the apparition disappeared, the loud report of a musket was heard, 

and that not only by themselves, but also by a crowd of persons who had followed the 



504 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



gentlemen to tlie house, but feared to enter with, thenl. They added, that as they sat on 
that floor, they heard many knocks, the number of which they counted, sounding on the 
very planks beneath them, and proceeding with just as much force when they stationed 
Squire Fisher in the room below, in which he and two other watchers testified that they 
heard the knocks but could not find any cause to account for them 

" Now, although I heard all this, and more to the same effect, from persons whose 
veracity I esteemed at the same rate as my own, I determined to visit the scene of the 
hauntings, and investigate their nature alone, before I felt justified in abandoning what I 
deemed to be the safe ground of increduhty, on the possibility of the dead revisiting the 
earth and causing their presence to be known through the strange and occult means here 
detailed. 

" As a minister of religion myself — as one who had ventured to assert the fact of man's 
immortality, but who could only prove it from the traditions of the past or the hearsay 
of the fathers, I deemed it my solemn duty to avail myself of any clue which could open 
up to me an assurance of the doctrines I taught, and transmute faith into actual know- 
ledge. Besides these pleadings of duty, I remembered mth some awe, and perplexity, 
certain experiences I had gone through in a visit to Europe, amongst some French savants, 
much given to the practices of animal magnetism. These gentlemen, at a pleasant assem- 
blage where occult philosophy was the theme of our conversation, had assured me I was a 
' fine magnetic subject,' and begged me to allow myself to be put into the mesmeric sleep. 
As a mere matter of curiosity, I consented to their request ; but the results were such aa 
I little anticipated, and can never forget. I became lost to this earth and its surroundings, 
and found myseK in realms of beauty, joy, and harmony, the memory of which I can 
never recall even now without tears. On every side of me I saw multitudes of radiant 
people with glorious forms, shining ajDparel, and beautiful faces. Some of these divine- 
looking beings I perceived wore the identity of those I had once known on earth, but whom 
I had long since regarded as dead. Amongst them was the form of my blessed and much 
loved mother ; also a lovely little sister, who, marvellous to relate, still preserved her 
identity, and was known to me, although she had grown up into a peerless and angelic- 
looking woman. There were several other well-remembered and dearly loved sojourners 
of earth, none of whom I should have ever looked to meet again. 

" These glorious beings filled me with a wondrous sense of delight, and one or two of 
them spoke to me, though it was the misfortune of my after life that I could not remember 
what they said. I beheld one wonderful thing in this scene of paradise which perplexed 
me more than all others. At times I saw human beings of a most horrible and repulsive 
appearance, and of different degrees of blackness and density. These wretched-looking 
objects were all surrounded by an atmosphere which seemed to correspond in color and 
thickness to their own bodies ; and what was most astonishing, was the fact that I often 
saw them, and the bright beings surrounded by light and bloom, advance towards each 
other with inconceivable swiftness, and such a terrific momentum, that I looked to see 
them shivered to pieces by the shock ; but instead of this, I perceived that they hterally passed 
thrpugh each other's forms, and that without betraying the least consciousness of meeting, 
seeing, or even being aware of the others' presence 

" In subsequent seances —for I practiced with these mesmerists for several months — 
I saw the solution of this singular problem. I perceived that the degrees of density of 
every world or atmosphere corresponded to the beings who dwelt within it, and that finer 
and more sublimated spheres and spirits penetrated and inhabited the grosser and denser ; 
thus a vast number of spheres and spirit people inhered together, invisible to each other, 
yet related Hke water in a crystal, . microscopic creatures in water, gases in the creatures, 
electricity in the gases, and the innermost invisible life principle in all. I could see world 
within world, spheres of sublimated refinement, brightness, and beauty, penetrating 
within and within and still within the grosser and denser. I could see the forms of the 
dwellers in these interlacing atmosphei'es piercing each other, in-sasible all to each other ; 
but for me to look upon them in this interior unfoldment, was very wonderful and very 

awful But to return. It was on a quiet summer's evening that I found 

myself, after a long ramble in the pine woods, standing before a melancholy-looking, 
deserted mansion, the park-like approach to which, with its broad verandahs, open courts, 
and shattered appearance, convinced me I had chanced upon the very spot which I had so 
often designed to visit. 

" The occasion seemed propitious ; and as no hiiman being appeared to be within or 
about the place, I resolved to explore it at once, and to do so in the thorough spirit of a 
fearless investigator. 

" I had no sooner made my way through the open doors and halls into a suite of apart- 
ments which had once been used as reception rooms, than I experienced a sensation of 
fear, dislike, and repulsion, which I had never known before. A sudden chill pervaded 
my whole frame, and a strongly-defined impression, almost as clear as a voice, bore these 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 505 

words in upon my mind : There is a gulf between the living and the dead which humanity 
cannot endure to fathom. 

" Again I thought, or something seemed to make me think : How terrible is the 
approach of unbodied spirit ! The mortal cannot stand in the presence of the immortal 
and live. Such sentiments as these oppressed me with a nameless and indescribable sense 
of horror. I would have given all I possessed, aye, even years of my life, to fly the place, 
and yet I could not move. The whole atmosphere seemed to be full of s-pirit, and that 
of a horrible and repulsive character. ' How dreadful is this place ! ' was the thought 
which at length shaped itself into words, and with their shuddering utterance, I knew that 
I had broken some spell. Instantly I perceived that a woman, young, once fair, but 
hateful and antagonistic to my mortal being, had entered the haU and was gliding swiftly 
towards me. Had no relief interposed to save me from waking conscious contact witla 
this being, the horror of that moment would, I am certain, have terminated my earthly 
existence ; but just then, as if by a providential interposition, three gentlemen of the 
neighbourhood, one of whom was my intimate friend. Squire Fisher, entered the apart- 
ment from a long gallery which they had been traversing on the ojDposite side to that from 
which the spirit had borne down upon me. The pang of horror on the one hand, and the 
relief of mortal companionship on the other, served to produce a shock which threw me 
instantly into the mesmeric condition to which I have above alluded, and one which my 
French experiences had rendered familiar to me. 

" My friends subsequently informed me they were horror-struck to perceive me lying 
on the ground cold, and as they at first deemed, lifeless, but when one of the party strove 
to raise me, I threw him off, and standing upright, I began to speak in a decided and un- 
familiar manner, bidding them have no fear, for that I was 'entranced,' and should 
converse with the spirits who inhabited that possessed mansion. By my command, some 
rude seats were improvised, and, lighted only by the rays of the full moon streaming in 
brightly through the broken panes of the shattered windows, the amazed visitors re- 
mained listening to the revelations which I poured forth under what purported to be the 
influence of the risen soul of the unhappy suicide, the son of my friend Mr. W . 

" Speaking not as myself (Dr. Warren), but as Marcus W , I declared that I was as 

much a living man as I had ever been, and moreover that I dwelt in that same house still, 
and should continue to do so until my spirit was freed from the bonds which chained me 
to it. I desired my visitors to speak to me, and when, in awe and confusion, they at first 
began imperfectly to question, but finally to press their queries with eagerness and 
intelligence, they learned from me, still speaking as the spirit of the unfortunate suicide, 
that there is no real death, only a change of bodies, or outward coveiings to the soul ; 
that with every one of these changes the soul enters upon an inner sphere to the place, 
scene, and surroundings which it formerly occupied ; that its ubility to change its locale, 
or place of abode, depended wholly upon the power it had acquired in its previous state of 
existence. That where the moral excellence of the soul was great and exalted, its condi- 
tion was correspondingly pure, beautiful, and refined ; that where the spirit was mighty 
in intellectual and moral worth, its powers were almost iinbounded ; whilst its capacity to 
roam through and master the various conditions of many spheres of being were so 
enlarged, that such spirits appeared to men like gods, and were in reality, tutelary spirits, 
or ' Guardian Angels.' 

" Being urgently questioned why the spirit of Marcus W continued to haunt and 

disturb that place, I replied, in his name, that / was compelled to clo so. That the 
strongest part of my earthly magnetism had been poured out in that place ; that crime 
was strong passion ; strong passion ever liberated strong magnetism ; and that human 
magnetism formed ' tractors,' or magnetic points, which drew the spiritual body and 
bound it as forcibly as chains forged of the magnetism of the universe. They asked of 
the possessing spirit if it had companions, and who were the female forms so often 
described by affrighted watchers ; also what produced the frightful noises that pierced the 
awful solitude. The possessing spirit replied that thousands of wretched beings like him- 
self were attracted to his society, and that it was a part of the law of their lives that, as 
the remembrance of their crimes returned to them (and when was it ever absent ?) they 
were suiTounded by the images called up by their thoughts, and seemed madly impelled 
to deal blows at those images, and repeat again and again, in frenzied misery, all the 
scenes which crowded in upon their minds. It was at such times, he said, that their 
cries, gi-oans, and acts resounded through the heavy atmosphere of their prison house into 
the atmosphere of earth, and became palpable alike to the sense of sight and hearing. 

" When asked if he was sorry for the wrongs he had committed, he replied he was, 
sometimes, but at other times he was possessed by an uncontrollable desire to repeat it all 
again and again, and that that was hell, and he could not escape from it. Here he was 
questioned as to whether the Catholic idea had any foundation in fact that prayers and 
penances performed by others could avail him. He answered eagerly in the affirmative, 



5o6 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

assuring his hearers that the strong sympathy of human spirits, when directed towards 
the earth-bound soul, gave it psychologic strength, and aided it to pray for itself, and 
ultimately to repent, and rise out of its bonds into a condition of change analogous to 
death ; that when the imprisoned spirit had passed through this second death, it entered 
into a finer, purer, inner sphere, and he believed would have the opportunity to pi ogress, 
as he had been told, eternally ; but he didn't know ; he was not ready for death for his 
part. He kept on repeating and repeating the scenes of earth, and he supp sed, until he 
had outgrown them, he could not escape from the horrid necessity of going over them. 
He only knew he was infinitely wretched, and longed for, but could not die, this second 
death. 

" One of the interlocutors here asked if he and the unhappy spirits around him had 
any teachers with them, any guardian angels to help them progress. Here a violent 
shuddering shook my frame, and the obsessing spirit replied, with bitter curses, that often 
and often they saw bright lights flashing amidst them, and they knew they were the 
spirits of purer and better spheres, come to try and reform them. Sometimes, he added, 
they heard celestial voices urging them to pray, and strive to banish the horrid desires 
that oppressed them. 

" There were some, the spirit added, who followed these Hghts with weeping, wailing, 
and penitential tears ; then they laid down to sleep, and melted out of that sphere — that 
is, they passed on higher. But others, like himself, saw the lights, and heard the voices ; 
and though for a moment they felt remorse, and a wild aspiration to overcome their 
miserable propensities, they generally returned to them with added fury, and then they 
mocked and gibed at the angels, and bid them go hence with curses. He added, all such 
angels as penetrated into the sphere iu which he dwelt were called ' Christs,' but he 
believed they were only good and pure souls of men and women that had once lived on 
earth, and many ^vi3e, though wicked spirits he conversed with had said that was what 
' Christ,' ' Mediator,' and ' Saviour ' meant ; also that the great love and pity which good 
men felt towards poor earth-bound spirits did at last give them strength, and help them 
to rise ; ' and so,' said this intellectual but morally degraded spirit, 'this is what is meant 
by a Saviour, bearing the transgressions of many, and thus it is that " with His stripes we 
are healed." ' . . . . 

" It was far in the night when I awoke in that place of dread. My three friends were 
kneeling around me, praying fervently, with streaming eyes, and hearts wrung with 
anguish, for pity on the miserable spirits who were there bound in the prison-house of 
their earthly crimes. As for me, I neither comprehended their pious occupation, nor my 
own share in the terrible revelations to which they had been listening. They led me to 
my home, but it required several days of rest, and calm communion with my deeply- 
moved companions, to restore my mind to its wonted peace, and make me apprehend the 
fuU force of what had transpired, the memoranda of which they had made from their 
joint recollections of the scene. 

" The fearful and loathsome impression produced upon me by that one night's inter- 
course with ' the spirits in prison ' never became modified, or faded out of memory. 
Within a few days of its occurrence, I succeeded in procuring a substitute, and imme- 
diately upon his ari'ival I quitted the neighbourhood of the hated dwelhng. The friends 
who had been sharers in my painful experiences in vain urged me to renew them, and 
devote myself to the reform of the unhappy spirits who dwelt in the bonds of earthly 
crime within that awful mansion. No sense of duty, however strong, could persuade me 
again to renew the loathsome, and as I still deem it, unnatural intercourse between the 
mortal and the spirit. I know that what I have written is true. I know that the 
experiences and revelations of the movement known as modern Spiritualism can add 
nothing to the terrible revelations of that night of horror ; but though I believe in the 
truth of spirit communion, and doubt not that the intercourse with purer spheres and 
higher existences may be fraught with pleasure and instruction, I can never again consent 
to place myself in such a position as to overstep the boundaries of the sphere in which I 
have been mercifully limited by the providence of my all- wise Creator." 

The narrative of Dr. Joseph Warren proves to us conclusively that there 
are certain grand central truths, revealed to us through Spirit communion, 
concerning the condition of the soul hereafter, which do not change nor 
become modified by time, place, nor Mediumistic- idiosyncracies. If the 
above narration contains no philosophy starding from its novelty, it impresses 
us forcibly with the fact that prior, as well as subsequent to, the celebrated 
era we designate the Rochester knockings, well attested communications 
from the realm of soul life invariably teach the stupendous lesson that we 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. so? 

carry our own doomsday book within us, and that life hereafter is not only a 
continuation, but an inevitable result of the good or evil deeds we have 
sown in the rudimental sphere of mortality. 

Of the following two cases (the first occurring in 1834, the second in 1836) 
a vast mass of published testimony exists, variously written, and profusely 
attested. 

The most concise and authentic accounts that we can select, are to be 
found in a httle volume written by Mr. Henry Spicer, entitled " Sights and 
Sounds," and published in England, in 1853. 

This work is professedly an account of " all the modern Spiritual mani- 
festations " which have occurred in America ; and one of its chief points of 
interest is derived from the exceeding care which the author has taken to 
verify all he relates. 

"The first regularly recorded American manifestations commenced in the year 1834, 
at Canandaigua, New York, and recurred in 1836, in various parts of Pennsylvania, 

" It is stated that the witnesses, now living, who have it in their power to attest the 
details which follow, are numerous and respectable, besides being persons who were in the 
highest degree incredulous, and who repaired to the theatre of operations in order to 
detect, if possible, the means by which they were effected. 

" Mr. Dods was a resident in the village of Levant, Penobscot County, Maine. The 
first intimation that gentleman or his family received, that they were to be made the 
subject of any unusual manifestation, was conveyed in certain rappings, sometimes on the 
outside door of his house, sometimes within, on the walls, in the chambers, in fact, in 
every part of his dwelling. Coming from the village late one evening, he observed the 
school-house brilliantly lighted, and forms of men and women moving to and fro. As he 
drew near, the lights were suddenly extinguished. Fancying, however, that the scholars 
had assembled for a dance, he crept silently to the door, and, opening it suddenly, stepped 
within. All was darkness and silence — not a human being was to be found ! 

"On other occasions, noises like the rolling of a heavy metal ball were heard to 
reverberate from one end of the house to the other ; bedsteads were lifted and turned 
round, tables moved across the room, lights danced up and down the road before the house, 
or assembled in an open space, and then mingled in what suggested to the astonished 
watchers the idea of some fantastic dance ! 

" The scene of these extraordinary phenomena was visited by so many persons, that 
the clerk of the county courts deemed it his duty to visit the spot, with his assistant, and 
endeavour to detect and expose the trick. 

" Mr. Dods was perfectly willing to receive them, and permitted them to select their 
own apartment, to which, about nine o'clock in the evening, they withdrew. 

" They fastened the door, secured the windows, searched the room, closet, and bed, and 
were confident that no human being was in the room, or conld get in without their 
knowledge. Placing the candle on the table, unextinguished, they went to bed. 

" Soon after they retired, they felt the bedclothes move. They immediately caught 
hold of the quilts, and braced themselves against the footposts of the bedsteads. The 
clothes continued to move iintil they relaxed their hold, when the quilts and sheet 
hopped six feet from the bed on to the floor. The candle was burning, but no visible 
power could be detected. The bed was again searched, but nothing was found. They 
replaced the clothes, and once more got into bed. 

" In a very few moments the feather-bed started out from under them, and fell on the 
floor, notwithstanding their united exertions to retain it in its place. 

" The adventurers never succeeded in obtaining the slightest clue to^these disturbances. 
The like fortune attended other inquirirg friends of Mr. Dods. 

" At length, a company of gentlemen from various parts of the country, assembled at 
the house, in the hope of witnessing the manifestations. Nor were they disappointed. 

" They were conversing freely on various topics, when a noise was heard, like the 
rumbling of distant thunder. It continued to increase in loudness, drawing nearer and 
nearer, and at last burst directly over the house, shaking the whole structure to its very 
foundation. This took place in winter, and the stars shown out clear and cold. Soon 
after this, a noise was heard in the attic Uke the trundling of iron balls, and it continued 
for ten minutes, when the company were startled by a heavy weight falling apparently 
from the ceiling to the floor. It immediately commenced rolling about the room ; would 
glide under the chairs without touching them, jump over the table, strike the four sides 
of the room, bounding, Avithout touching the floor, and at last it hopped upon a bed which 
stood in one corner of the room, and moved from the head to the foot. 



5o8 NTNETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

" The clothes were distinctly seen to settle under it, as if some heavy weight was 
pressing them down, A gentleman in the room walked towards the bed, with the 
seeming intention to take hold of, or arrest its progress ; but one of the company caught 
hold of his arm, and said, ' Do not touch it for your life.' It then dropped on the floor, 
and rolled out of the side of the house. 

" During all these phenomena nothing could be seen. That which made the noise was 
invisible. 

" It would appear that the spirit was by no means of a communicative disposition, since, 
after indulging in many similar manifestations, it ultimately withdrew from the house 
and neighbourhood, leaving all parties in total ignorance as to its character and object. 

" Eighteen years since, in 1834, the Newark Advertiser published a curious narrative of 
a rapping case, into the truth of which its agents had previously inquired. 

" It appeared that on a certain night the family of a Mr. Joseph Barron, Hving in the 
township of Woodbridge, about three miles from Rahway, Newark County, were alarmed, 
after they had retired, by a loud thumping against the house. Mr. Barron's first impres- 
sion was, that some person was attempting to break in ; but further observation soon 
undeceived him. The thumping, however, continued at short intervals, until the family 
became so alarmed, that Mr Barron called in some of his neighbours, who remained up 
with the family until daylight, when the thumping ceased. 

" The next evening, after nightfall, the noise recommenced, when it was ascertained to 
be mysteriously connected with the movements of a servant girl in the family, about 
fourteen years of age. 

" When passing a window on the stairs, for example, a sudden jar, accompanied with 
an explosive sound, broke a pane of glass, the girl at the same moment being seized with 
a violent spasm. This, of course, very much alarmed her, and a physician (Dr. Drake) 
was sent for, came, and bled her. The bleeding, however, produced no apparent effect. 
The noise still continued as before, at intervals, wherever the girl went, each sound 
producing more or less of a spasm ; and the physician, with the family, remained up 
during the night. At daylight the thumping ceased again. On the third evening the 
same thing was repeated, commencing a little earlier than before, and so every evening. 

" The circumstance rapidly spread, and produced a vast excitement, the house being 
filled and surrounded from morning till night. All imaginable means were resorted to 
in order to unravel the phenomenon. At one time the girl would be removed from 
one apartment to another without effect. Wherever she was placed, at uncertain intervals, 
the thumping noise would be heard in the room. 

" She was taken to a neighbour's house ; the same result followed. When carried 
out of doors, however, no noise was heard. 

" Dr. Drake, who had been constant in his attentions during the whole period, on one 
occasion, in company with the agents of the paper, made a variety of experiments with 
the girl, who was j^laced in an upper room with some members of the family. The noises 
would be produced five or six times in succession, jarring the house, ceasing a few minutes, 
and then resuming as before. The girl appeared to be in perfect health, cheerful, and 
free from everything like the apprehension she had on former occasions exhibited. The 
noise, however, continued ; and in order to ascertain more satisfactorily that she was not 
herself the author of it, she was placed on a chair upon a blanket, in the centre of the 
room, the chair being bandaged with cloth, the girl's feet fastened, and her hands confined. 

" AH these precautions produced no change, the thumping continuing as before, though 
the girl moved neither limb nor muscle. 

'" She was then placed in the doorway of a closet, the door being ajar. In less than a 
minute it flew open, as if violently struck with a mallet, accompanied with precisely such 
a noise as would be produced in such a case." 

The records of this century, and the experience of numerous persons still 
Uving, furnish many more cases strictly analogous to that of the modern 
movement, yet lacking the scientific explanation which has been so generally 
received since 1848. 

Spiritual beings who appeared eighteen centuries ago are regarded by 
modern Christianity as " Angels," sometimes as " God " in person ; while 
trance speakers of the same period are spoken of as " Prophets," " Men of 
God," and considered to be plenarily inspired by the Almighty himself. 

The very same persons who make these enormous claims for ancient 
Spiritualism, write of Spiritual appearances in the eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries as necessarily being the work of human imposture, or if genuine, 




D^ E .Y.Mansfield 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 509 

at the very most, of " evil spirits," while the trance speakers whose utterances 
they can neither ignore nor account for, they pertinaciously denounce as 
"diseased" or ''insane." 

It is to mark the vast and important change in public opinion which the 
advent of modern Spiritualism with all its scientific facts has wrought, and 
show the flood of light which it has poured upon the subject of man's 
Spiritual nature and life beyond the grave, that we have ventured to inflict 
upon the reader narratives with which the experiences of the last twenty- 
five years have completely familiarized us. 

" The people that walked in darkness " have indeed " seen a great light ; " 
and nothing more conclusively proves this truth, so wonderfully illustrated 
in our own time, than these brief notices of the early Spiritualism of the 
nineteenth century. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED). 

Wonderful Phenomenal Manifestations. 

\\VYitUn by the. Auihor of "Nineteenth Century Miracles," atid Jirst published in the 
'' Western Star," Boston.'} 

Passing on to the manifestations which succeeded the famous " Rochester 
knockings" in 1848, and selecting from hundreds of wonderful narratives a 
few only, of what may be considered as representative cases, we call atten- 
tion to two or three well-attested examples of the direct Spirit voice. The 
first notice cited, is borrowed from the June number of Mr. Stephen Albro's 
excellent Spiritual journal entitled The S^oibeaui.* In this Mr Albro gives 
a condensed account of certain manifestations transpiring at Medina, the 
report of which was of so extraordinary a character, that Mr. Albro was at 
much pains to ascertain the real facts. The result of his enquiries he 
publishes as follows : — 

" Our informants are several of the most respectable inhabitants of Medina, amongst 
them a young lady, educated, intelligent, and truthful, who visits in a wealthy and 
distinguished family who are constantly annoyed with the presence of a badly brought up, 
uncivil ' spirit. ' This spirit began to ' cut up ' about two years since. First it commenced 
' rapping ' in the bedroom of two young ladies, members of the family. It ' rapped ' on 
the walls, the floor, the ceiling, above, below, all around, and finally commenced pulling 
the bedding from the bed. The young ladies, nearly frightened out of their senses, ran 
do^vn-stairs and reported the terrible phenomenon to their parents. The spirit followed, 
and the entire household were smitten with terror. 

" But after they had become satisfied that the noise and other demonstrations proceeded 
from a ' spirit,' and when their excitement had partially subsided, they determined to hold 
a circle by way of ascertaining who their invisible tormentor might be. No sooner did they 
commence their enquiries, than to their horror they received vocal responses. 

" The si^irit informed them in audible, but not very polished English, that his name 
was ' Josh ;' that he died about thirty years since in South Carolina ; that when on earth 
he was ignorant and debased, so that when he passed into the sjsirit world he was confined 
to the lowest spheres ; that he finally wandered ofi", and had now concluded to become a 

* Published at Buffalo, N.Y., now suspended, 



5IO NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

resident in the family where he made himself ' manifest ;' that he should remain with 
them, because he found them congenial, and that he intended to stay with them for years 
to come ; that no power could drive him away ; and if he was not used well he would 
' knock things endwise,' and make himself generally disagreeable. 

"From that time to the present, 'Josh ' has been a fixture in the family, and laughs, 
talks, cracks jokes, etc., as if he was still occupying his fleshly tenement. 

" He is somewhat passionate, and frequently breaks crockery, or mars furniture, when 
he is offended. 

"But he is easily coaxed. When company is expected, 'Josh' is importuned to keep 
quiet. Upon one occasion the young ladies were expecting company, and were particularly 
desirous that 'Josh' should keep perfectly still during the sojourn of the visitors. 

" After receiving a thorough outlay of flattery and coaxing, he agreed to keep ' mum,' 
' but,' said he, ' I shall remain here upon this end of the piano. There is no need of my 
leaving the room.' 

" The next day he stated that he sat upon the piano during the visit, and to prove 
what he said, he repeated a portion of the conversation between the young ladies and 
their ' company.' 

" At one time, when the laundress was ironing in the kitchen, ' Josh ' seized one of the 
flat-irons and ran upstairs with it, where he was heard in high glee after the feat was 
accomplished. The iron was very hot, and by being placed momentarily on several of the 
stairs, left its imprint wherever it stood. Writing is a favourite amusement with this 
remarkable ' spirit.' He writes messages and throws them upon the floor quite frequently. 
His chirography is awful, and his orthography of the same pattern. 

" ' Josh ' is very fond of children, and treats them with becoming consideration. 

" When the adult members of the family leave the house, the children are entrusted 
to the special care and guardianship of the said spirit, and he, hke a worthy ghost, leads 
them from all harm. 

" This is only a meagre beginning of the story of ' Josh,' the spirit. It comes direct 
from a family of the highest respectabiUty, and is corroborated by the statements of 
several ' neighbours,' who have also been favoured with frequent conversations from the 
disembodied individual above described." 

The author is in possession of several other reports furnished by different 
individuals who were moved by curiosity to visit the haunted family at 
Medina, but as they contain but little variety, and the head of the family 
at last emphatically declined to furnish any farther information on the 
subject, the above extract will suffice. About the same time as these 
marvels were transpiring in Medina, a similar visitation occurred at Williams- 
port, Penn., and the extraordinary resemblance that appears between the 
two cases has led to the supposition that they both referred to the same 
phenomena. 

The author's personal knowledge of the family who were the subjects of 
the following details, enables her to refute this statement, and to allege that 
the Williamsport talking Spirit was known and listened to by hundreds of 
curious visitors, and that the witnesses of this fact are numerous, respectable, 
and still living. We shall cite the report furnished by the Penn. Bulletin 
of June i6, 1859. 

" TALKING SPIRITS. 

" Williamsport has, through all times of excitement on Spiritualism, remained quiet 
and undisturbed. But our city is destined to have its share, even on this subject. . . . 

" We suppress names for the present, because the family do not wish to be troubled by 
being made the centre of curiosity, or to have people rushing in at all hours to learn the 
truth. The facts are briefly these : In the west ward of this city reside a quiet family, 
exemplary in all respects, the heads of which are, and have been for a long time, members 
of the Pine Street M. E. Church. A short time ago they were surprised at certain, or, 
perhaps we should say, very uncertain sounds, as of rapping with the fingers or knuckles, 
and sometimes a scraping or scratching noise on the floor or wall. 

" These sounds seemed to follow a young girl, about sixteen years of age, a daughter 
of the gentleman of the house. For a time they paid no attention to them ; but they 
increased in such a manner as to compel attention, and were apparently determiued to be 
heard, What was more strange, was the fact that the spirit — or whatever it is — ngw 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 511 

speaks in an audible voice. At first it called the name of the young girl, and of other 
persons. The pious head of the family betook himself to prayer in order to lay the spirit, 
but it would not down. 

" On Saturday evening last the pastor was sent for, and he, after convincing himself 
that there was no fraud on the part of the family, called in another aged and well-known 
clergyman. They both prayed, and the unseen visitant spoke audibly during the prayers 
of each. On Sunday morning the girl attended church with the family. There the 
rapping was heard by several, and the girl's name was called. Fearing to attract attention, 
she left the church. At a class-meeting, the same day, the same phenomena occurred. 

" This much and a great deal more had occurred up to Sunday morning last. It seems 
to follow the girl, yet some demonstrations have occurred when she was out of the house. 
They have talked and rapped at her, or with her, while in the street, and on the gate, the 
door-steps, and other places ; and, aa we understand, the talking has continued while the 
gii-l was absent from the house. 

" The members of the familj^, with whom we conversed, say they are all satisfied that 
there is no possibility of trick or collusion in the matter on the part of any human being. 
The two clergymen pronounce the whole thing entirely inexplicable, and we are told that 
they also are satisfied that no member of the family has any agency in producing the 
sounds or the talking. 

" The parties are too respectable to admit of the theory of collusion. Indeed, they are 
all greatly pained at the occurrences, and would gladly be rid of them. 

" We await further developments, and will report if anything more definite transpires." 

In the West Branch Bulletin of Williamsport, of February, i860, are 
the following additional particulars : - 

" MORE ABOUT THE ' TALKING SPIRITS.' 

" We have taken some trouble to ascertain the facts connected with the singular case 
of noises and strange sounds which we reported last week. It seems that the girl, who 
appears to be the medium for these manifestations, is not of a robust constitution, but is 
quite nervous, and has, at times, been extremely ill. 

" About a year ago she was playing with another girl about her own age, when both 
fell into a well. The subject of the present excitement was rescued ahve ; but the other 
lost her life. The voice which speaks to the medium makes frequent allusions to this 
circumstance, generally in a trifling and taunting way. It will say, ' How would you like 
to be down in that well again ? ' or ' How did you like it when you fell into the well ? ' 

" After the family had been greatly annoyed by strange sounds, knocking, thumping, etc., 
for several days, the girl said : ' In the name of God, what do you want ? ' 

" To their utter consternation, a voice replied, plainly and distinctly : ' You, you, you ! 
I want you ! ' and from this time talking was common. 

" Not only would it follow the girl, but when she was up-stairs, and the other part of 
the family down, and in a diiferent part of the house, the voice would speak to them. 
. This seems to preclude the hypothesis of some specialty attaching to this girl. Men of 
candour and judgment, who were there and heard for themselves, have no idea that there 
was a possibility of any deception on the part of any of the family. If it is a spirit, it 
must be a mischievous one, or be among what Swedenborg calls the 'infernals.' At one 
time it said : ' I was in heaven once, but I did not like it there. I climbed over the 
battlements and came down here ; I am in hell now, and will have you there. We have 
to gnash our teeth some, but that don't hurt ; anybody can do that.' 

" When a clergyman was spoken of, it expressed great contempt for him, and paid very 
little respect to him while in the attitude and act of prayer, in which all the family joined, 
as the voices and talking were irreverently continued. 

" It said if the clergyman came again it would show him a cloven foot. 

" We have conversed with a gentleman who sat near the ' medium ' in church on 
Sunday morning week. He says the sounds were as loud as if made with a mallet, and 
the calling of the medium's name was heard by all in that part of the church. The 
officiating clergyman also heard the sounds at the same time. 

" Since that Sunday evening or the Monday morning following, we learn that there 
have been no manifestations. The girl, from the effects of fright, and other exciting 
causes, is prostrated, and her case is considered very critical." 

The following narrative is equally well known, and has been thoroughly 
investigated by the author. It is on the subject of the life, times, and 
doings of Bill Dole, both as a mortal and a Spirit, and we are furnished 



512 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



with numerous affidavits from the parties who have conversed with his 
invisible ghostship by the hour together. We have visited the scene of 
the hauntings too, and though the parties in whose house the marvels 
occurred have moved away, numerous residents of Logansport still bear 
their testimony to the facts, which we must briefly sum up as follows : — 

It was very soon after the first commencement of the disturbances at 
Hydesville that a family named Lewis, German by birth, residing at Logans- 
port, were annoyed by singular and unaccountable noises and erratic move- 
ments of their furniture. A sound too was often heard in their midst like 
the whining of a small animal, and this would taper off (to use their 
own expression) into low whisperings. The family were reUgiously disposed 
persons, and at no time were favourable to the idea of Spirit communion. 

Greatly disliking publicity, and repelled from every attempt to communi- 
cate with their invisible tormentor, they endured these hauntings for some 
time without mentioning their occurrence, until, as the newspaper accounts 
relate, they were startled with distinctly audible vocal sounds. 

At first their names only were called, then connected sentences were 
spoken, and finally an invisible personage established himself in the family, 
conversing with them as freely as any mortal inmate could do, and though 
annoying them greatly in respect to his supermundane character and 
ubiquitous presence, yet manifesting all the attributes, predilections, and 
characteristics of a regular member of the family. His own account of 
himself was, that he had been in earth life a tailor by trade, his name William, 
or as he chose to style himself, " Bill Dole." 

Some accounts represent him as having been a man addicted to drink, 
and dying under the influence of delirium tremens ; but the most authentic 
history of his exit from the mortal sphere, represents it as occurring through 
an act of suicide by drowning. 

He affirmed that he had dwelt some time in the Spirit world, but found 
his positioh there very far from satisfactory ; in fact, so contrary to his 
inchnations, that he had resolved not to stay there, and finding from some 
power in and about that family that he was unable to define, that he could 
make himself at home amongst them, he had resolved to take up his resi- 
dence there ; and " there he meant to stay," and did stay, for a period 
extending over upwards of two years. 

Bill Dole's adventures in his self-elected home would occupy volumes, but 
we need not dwell on details which present a very great similarity of 
character, save to notice that the invisible performer was, as in each of the 
preceding instances, a person of entirely different habits and temper from 
his earthly associates. Bill Dole interlarded his conversation with rude 
oaths and profane remarks, besides manifesting extreme self-will, and when 
thwarted, propensities to violence, and even mischief. He would knock, 
pound, stamp his feet, run about the house with a great clatter, and "knock 
things around generally." He manifested a great contempt for orthodox 
religion, and on one occasion, when a clergyman, who frequently conversed 
and remonstrated with the Spirit, offered up a fervent prayer in his behalf, 
Bill Dole called out, in hearing of the minister and all assembled, " Well, 
I don't feel a d d bit better for that." 

On two or three occasions he accompanied the family to church, where 
his remarks were clearly heard by the whole congregation, who affirm that 
he pronounced the sermon preached at him, " all d d stuff." 

On other occasions he was heard to vociferate " Amen ! " and " Good for 
you, old fellow ! " (meaning the clergyman) with great unction, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 513 

Generally however, during religious service, at church or " to hum," as 
he called the house he favoured with his presence, he contented himself 
with making tremendous poundings, always giving two knocks for "Amen," 
or else calling out the Christian names of the lady or her daughters who 
were supposed to be the Mediums. 

At times the cloth and every article necessary for a meal was laid 
suddenly, whilst the family were absent from the dining-room for the space 
of a minute or two. Bill would sometimes carry heavy loads about for 
them, and when in a good humour, perform many little kindly offices. He 
was especially fond of the children ; would guard and watch over them with 
wonderful power, and obvious affection ; indeed, their mother complained 
that Bill spoiled them, as he would get for them whatever they asked of him. 

On one occasion, when the mother was preparing their lunch to taV:; to 
school, Bill, in his usual authoritative way, desired that they should ''ave 
some jam spread over their bread. 

This they had asked him to procure for them, but the mother refused, 
alleging that it was not good for them. Bill swore they should have it, 
and during the recess in school time kept his word, by dropping down a 
pot of jam before them. 

On several occasions when one of the daughters, to whom Bill seemed 
especially to attach himself, was indisposed, he would demand, with no 
gentle oaths, that she should not be sent out in the rain, or made to exercise 
herself in household work. On one occasion, when her throat was tied up 
with a severe cold. Bill lifted her into the house from t' e garden, carried out 
a basket, and gathered all the fruit and vegetables he could lay hands on ; 
then bringing it swiftly into the house, he set it on the hearth, lifted up the 
cover of a large saucepan, and tumbled the things he had gathered indis- 
criminately into the boiling water. At times he would attend when visitors 
were present, horrify them by moving things around without any visible 
agency, and scare them almost into fits by taking part in their conversation, 
and reminding them that he was the Bill Dole they had formerly known 
when he lived among them. On one occasion a lady, making a visit to the 
distressed family, incautiously expressed her disgust that a wretch of the 
well-known bad character of Bill Dole should, as report alleged, come back 
to make Spiritual manifestations. 

She openly expressed her disbelief of the popular rumours, alleging that it 
must be some trick of the neighbours, which would ultimately be discovered. 
Whilst speaking, the family became extremely uneasy, judging from the 
kicks and poundings on a bureau in the apartment that the subject of the 
visitor's unfavourable criticisms was himself listening to them. Nor were 
they mistaken. In a few minutes the voice of the Spirit was heard in clear 
and distinct tones, saluting the visitor as " my dear," and asking affectionately 
after her little boy Arthur, "whom you know, my precious one," the mis- 
chievous imp added, " I am the real father of, though you do try to hide it 
by abusing me." 

The tricks, gambols, and sometimes the mischief enacted by this mon- 
strous persecutor were beyond all description weird and powerful. 

By night and day his pranks were continued, and though he always 
yielded to the remonstrances of kindness or gentle entreaty, opposition and 
abuse only seemed to convert him into a being little short of a fiend. The 
little ones of the family dearly loved Bill Dole, and some witnesses of the 
scene informed the writer they had seen the children visibly carried, lifted, 
danced, and jumped about by their invisible attendant, 
33 



514 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

Mrs, Lewis, or "mother," as Bill called his hostess, had a log-house at 
some distance from her home, which was occupied by a tenant from whom 
it was impossible to obtain the rent. Bill, who became familiar with all the 
family affairs, and volunteered his advice on all occasions, offered to clear 
them out, if " the mother " would take him along to pay them a visit. This 
being agreed to, the landlady called on her tenants, together with her 
invisible ally. 

The house had two doors at opposite sides of the building, which con- 
sisted of only one room. On these doors Bill kept up alternate successions 
of raps or poundings, which had no sooner summoned the inmates to one 
door, than the blows were exchanged for the other ; and in this way he kept 
up a distracting noise all night, varying the performance by projecting 
missiles down the chimney, and dislodging portions of the roof. 

The harassed inmates, at last comprehending that the "ghost of Bill 
Dole" had made a dead set against them, consented to vacate the premises, 
much to the delight of the injured owner, who desired, next to the payment 
of her rent, that the obnoxious inmates would quit. 

Bill Dole spent his time in this way, performing services for the family, 
and especially for the children, with all the rough fidelity of a household 
demon. 

It seemed that the attachment he conceived for his entertainers might have 
become mutual, and actually reconciled them to the strange and mysterious 
guest who had forced himself upon them, but the weird reputation which 
"Bill Dole's ghost" brought on the household, the influx of marvel seekers 
that intruded on their privacy, and the scandal and reproach that the 
circumstances entailed upon them, at last so wearied the family that they 
positively refused to communicate for, or with the Spirit any longer. 

They broke up, and changed their household and all their plans of life, 
until they finally succeeded in driving their unwelcome visitor from them. 

The voice ceased, and even the loud knockings and erratic movements 
of furniture were discontinued. Bill Dole was driven away, and his weird 
voice and mystic presence at last past from human observance, but not 
from memory. There are still hundreds of persons in Logansport who 
remember to have heard him converse, and can contribute items of hearsay 
evidence to this brief notice, which would, if published, swell the narrative 
to the full extent of the volume. 

We have only to add, that all which our space has permitted us to pub- 
lish can be vouched for on the most undeniable authority. Beyond this, 
much more might be given which we cannot as readily prove, but which no 
doubt would throw fight on its extraordinary details. Something of a 
sequel, however, we will add to the history which may not prove unin- 
teresting. 

After conversing with a gentleman from Logansport who was well 
acquainted with the whole transaction, and had frequently held conversa- 
tions with " Bill Dole," a Spirit purporting to be that individual presented 
himself one night to the author, and desired to make a communication to 
her concerning his present situation. 

He affirmed that when driven away, as he called it, from his earthly 
refuge, he wandered around for a long time, in the vain hope of finding 
another home in the same sphere. Not succeeding, he fell into a state of 
bitter anguish of mind, during which he received consolation and assistance 
from kind and wise Spirits, who counselled him to lift his thoughts above 
the earth, and strive to elevate his aspirations to the better land, to which, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 515 

as a Spirit, he now belonged. At first the task seemed hopeless, as his 
grovelling tendencies and earth-bound nature rendered aspiration almost 
impossible. He loathed the sphere to which, as a profane and undeveloped 
Spirit, he had formerly gravitated, and yet, though longing for a higher 
condition, he found it almost impossible to earn admission to those brighter 
realms. 

At length, and by the divine aid of blest angels from the land of light, he 
attained once more to a happy and peaceful home, and one moreover 
where he was a welcome guest, and assimilated with the Spiritual existence 
of which he was a part. 

In short, he had passed on to a higher life, and when idly solicited by 
some who had witnessed his marvellous performances to repeat them for 
their amusement, he gently but kindly replied, that though his life was now 
devoted to the task of pleasing and obliging others, yet he had lost the 
physical aura which had once bound him to earth, and enabled him in its 
gross atmosphere to perform the material feats which had distinguished him 
as an earth-bound Spirit. " Bill Dole," such as he was, exists no more. 
The sunlit butterfly has arisen from the chrysalitic shell of the earthly 
worm, and he now "sings with the angels," instead of astounding the marvel 
seekers of earth with the dread sound of his ghostly merriment and terrible 
Spirit voice. 

The credibility of this part of the narrative depends on the fact that the 
author's description of the Spirit's appearance, tallied exactly with the facts, 
and that some tokens of identity were given by her to a party who had 
been personally acquainted with him, which rendered it more than probable 
that the above statements were made by the progressed Spirit of the 
terrible " Bill Dole." 

SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES OF MR. JOHN LOWE OF MASSILLON, OHIO. 
CARDS WRITTEN UPON BY THE HANDS OF SPIRITS. 

In the author's possession are some twenty or thirty small cards, ranging 
from two to three inches, square and oblong square. Some are plain white, 
others pink, blue, and green enamelled ; the white cards are written upon 
with a pencil or black ink, the coloured ones chiefly in silver or gold letters. 
The writing consists of brief sentences containing words of encouragement, 
counsel. Scriptural phrases, prophecy, and rebuke. Occasionally there are 
short communications addressed by name to different members of a circle, 
of a personal and private nature, apropos to the time. 

The chirography of these cards is extremely fine, and executed appar- 
ently by the same hand. They all purport to come direct from Spirits, and 
were dropped under the most convincing conditions, in the presence of 
numerous witnesses, sometimes, though rarely, in the dark, but still oftener 
in the broad day or lamp light. It appears that these manifestations 
originated with a circle of sincere and earnest believers in Spiritualism, who 
were in the habit of holding private seances amongst themselves at Canton, 
Ohio. Of the members of this circle, the principal Mediums were Mr. 
George Baugh, an excellent physical Medium now residing in Wilmington, 
Delaware ; Mr. John Lowe, an Englishman, a good writing test Medium ; 
and Mr. Peter Jones. , There were from twelve to twenty members of the 
original circle, and the whole party consisted of honest, respectable trades- 
men and mechanics, persons who had nothing to gain by their reputation 
as Spiritualists, but very much to lose, in point of custom and credit, with 
their neighbours. 



516 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

After two or three years' session in Canton, some of the members 
removed to Massillon, Ohio, where the circle was re-organized, and the 
manifestations continued with increasing success for a considerable time 
longer. 

The records of these circles were occasionally published in the local 
papers, and contain accounts of truly astonishing phenomena, both in the 
direction of physical force, and intelligence. 

Mr. Lowe and his associates are well known and highly esteemed by all 
who know them. 

They frankly admitted sceptical inquirers to their sittings, and the author 
has received the testimony of over twenty of the most prominent citizens of 
Massillon to the perfect good faith, sincerity, and respectability of all the 
parties concerned. 

One or two of these witnesses attribute the manifestations to "evil 
spirits," although they acknowledge that some of the fruit was good, and all 
"generally harmless." Others say the whole thing was fanaticism and 
delusion, though they exculpate the members of the circle from the charge 
of being the deluders, and believe them to be strictly honest. Who the 
real executants were, these sage witnesses cannot say, although they are 
quite sure they cannot be Spirits, for the very obvious reason " that they 
don't believe in Spirits;" further deponent sayeth not. 

In respect to the manifestations, we find that besides the usual pheno- 
mena accompanying physical force Mediumship, the circle were continually 
in the habit of receiving cards written as above described, and dropped 
down on their table whilst in session, or hidden away in the most singular 
and uncomeatable places, where different members of the circle were 
desired to look for them. 

Sometimes cards and direct Spirit writings would be dropped down in 
the stores or houses of the sitters. 

A manifestation of this kind is described by Mr. Henry Schneider, of 
Massillon, one of the circle, who, though a firm believer in the agency of 
Spirits, strangely enough deemed that they were all evil in character, and 
of Satanic origin. Mr. Schneider writes to the author that being one day 
in the store of Mr. Lowe (who is a tailor), he and another friend turned 
the conversation upon his favourite theory of " evil Spirits," when, his 
companions being each quietly engaged in their several avocations, and all 
in the full light under his own immediate observation, he saw a small card 
within a few inches of the solid ceiling, from whence it fluttered down 
through the air, falling on the floor at Mr. Schneider's feet. 

On one side of the card was written, " Be ye faithful, and ere long your 
cause shall triumph. Ye shall find wealth in the earth, and wonderful 
revelations shall be made known unto you." 

"Your 'Good Spirit.'" 

On the other side of the card were mystical characters claimed by the 
Spirits to be Spiritual language. 

On another occasion a card was dropped down before Mr. Lowe on which 
was inscribed, " Spirits are with you ; let them communicate." 

This remark was appropriate to the special occasion, but Mr. Lowe him- 
self had some unpleasant doubts respecting the identity of the communi- 
cating power. 

He however placed the card, after a thorough examination by himself 
and all present, in his waistcoat pocket. On arriving at his home, and 
taking out the card for the purpose of showing it to others, he found on 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 517 

the reverse side, written in the same Spiritual chirography as the rest of the 
cards, " Lowe's Spirit." 

This writing greatly perplexed him. He knew it had come whilst -he 
carried it home, for it had been carefully examined by every one present at 
the circle before he placed it in his pocket ; again, he questioned whether 
these words might not signify that his own double or living Spirit was indi- 
cated by the words, " Lowe's Spirit." 

On a subsequent occasion he was informed that his father's Spirit was the 
executant, and the words were meant as a rebuke to himself for question- 
ing the good intent and individuaUty of those who made these manifesta- 
tions. 

As a specimen of the poetry received through these direct writings, we 
quote the following stanzas, which purported to be written, as well as 
dictated, by the Spirit of the English poet, Cowper: — 

*' TRUTH. 

" Truth is like a ilowing river, 
Flowing on and flowing ever ; 
Ever spreading, ever rising, 
With its waves the heart baptizing ; 
Ever soothing, ever heahng, 
Banishing each troubled feeling ; 
Entering in the willing soul, 
Making the broken-hearted whole. 

" Stay not thou the flowing tide. 

Turn not thou its waves aside ; 

Let it ever freely enter 

To thy bosom's inmost centre, 

Let it warm the heart of ice. 

Purifying guilt and vice, 

Till the soul redeemed from sin, 

To God and heaven shall enter in." 

The chirography of this fragment is bolder and wholly different from the 
cards, although it is remarkably clear and elegant. 

It was " fluttered down " from the ceiling in the light, and in full view of 
the whole circle. We shall conclude by a quotation from the Buffalo Sun- 
beam of 1861, in which the editor gives a slight account of the Canton circle 
and its doings, compiled by a gentleman whose prominent position as a 
well-known editor, and strict truthfulness of character, places his statement 
beyond question. 

The Canton editor says : — 

" We have long known that our to%vn contained a large number of downright, manly, 
and sincere Spiritualists, who for years have been pursuing their investigations quietly, 
and following their respective avocations in their own way. 

" We have frequently conversed with them on the subject of the spiritual manifesta- 
tions that have from time to time been had during their sittings, and have always 
admired the truthfulness of their statements, and the sincerity with which they were 



" Communications were frequently given by writing on cards. We copy the descrip- 
tion of one of the first messages : — 

" ' On producing a light, a card about three inches in length, one and one half inches in 
width, one side of a light pink colour and enamelled, and the other side white, was found 
on the table. On the enamelled side was written in pencil, in skilful and dehcate 
chirography : " The hands of spirits are now lifting the veil fold by fold. Be not afraid." 

" On one occasion the circle, or some members of it, were sent to a public haU, with 



5i8 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

instructions where to find the key, which no one present, it is affirmed, knew anything 
about at this time. The following is tlie message written on a card like the one described 
above : — 

" ' On the south-west window of Madison Hall there is a message, — depart ye hence 
and receive it. Take no light but the Ught of your faith. The key you will find hanging 
on a nail to the right, first door entrance, about four feet from the floor.' 

" Two persons went to the place as directed without a light, and failing to find the 
key, the arm of one of the parties was moved -without his will, and his hand placed upon 
it. We quote a portion of the message there found : — 

" ' A Prophecy. — Some of you are to be to this earth as Elisha and Ehjah were in 
golden days that long since have flown. Eeturn to-morrow eve, at the same hour, half- 
past eight.' 

" March 6th. — The circle met at half -past eight o'clock ; a card was dropped on the 

table inscribed. At ' half -past eight' Dr. M , Mr. C , and Mr. Lowe, went to 

Madison Hall. Mr. Lowe unlocked the door at the foot of the stairs leading directly to 
the hall, and the thi-ee ascended the stairs to the door opening into the hall, when it 
swung open uutouched ; the three were close together, and all saw a light in the south 
end of the room, at a platform there erected, and called the speaker's stand ; at seeing 
which Mr. Lowe gave an exclamation of surprise, and immediately there arose at the desk 
on the speaker's stand a figure which, after the manner of Leigh Hunt, we shall call ' a 
presence,' in white drapery, of full size and features, plainly seen by all. It was sur- 
rounded by a halo of soft mellow light, which was so brilliant that Mr. Lowe assures us 
he could have seen a half-dime on the floor. 

" At this juncture Mr. C became alarmed, and sought safety in flight ; Mr. Lowe 

was about to follow, when Dr. M took him by the collar, and told him ' he must see 

it through.' During aU this time ' the presence ' stood facing the visitors, mth its right 
arm extended, the right hand clasping a roll, similar to a sheet of paper rolled to an inch 
or two inches in size. 

" Immediately to the right of ' the presence,' and toward the southeast corner of the 
room, rose a second volume of light, accompanied with a slight hissing sound. As the 
sound increased, the latter light faded away. Then came a rumbhng noise like the 
heavy rolling of far-off' thunder. On hearing that, Mr. Lowe broke for the door, the 
doctor following, and both making the best of the time. 

" At the foot of the stairs, on the sidewalk, stood Mr. C , and the thi-ee went to 

Mr. B 's, aud resumed the sitting. In a short time came another card of the same 

kind of paper, inscribed, ' 0, ye of little faith ! how it saddens our hearts that ye should 
flee at the critical moment when important revelations were about to be made.' The 
circle was then informed that further developments would be made at some future day. 

" Much else is detailed of a very interesting character, but we can make room for only 
the following messages, the first being given February 24th. 

" ' Be of good cheer, for brighter days are about to dawn, and a new light shall envelop 
the world. Prepare for the coming glory by purifying your lives and conquering your 
evil passions. Let pure water be your only beverage. Let your raiment be plain and 
comfortable, without regard to fashion. Truth is hght, and truth shall triumph. 

" ' (Signed) Mart.' 

"We copy from another card, received by a circle at Mr. B 's on the 26th of 

February : — 

" ' Be ye faithful and proclaim to the world the things ye have seen and heard, for in 
the fulness of time men will believe.' 

" ' I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand.' 

" The parties to whom these messages were delivered, still doubting the propriety of 
publishing them, met again on Thursday night the 28th, at Mr. Lowe's, and ag lin they 
were ordered ' to jjublish to the world the things which they had seen and heard,' as 
appears from the following message, which we copy from the original, precisely as it was 
received, and which was handed to us by Mr. Lowe. 

" ' 0, ye faithless ones, how long must we bear with your unbelief ? Have we not 
manifested ourselves unto you ? And have not some of you witnessed things which but 
few mortals are permitted to behold ? And yet ye turned and fled at the moment when 
great revelations were about to be made. Have we not commanded you to pubhsh these 
things to the world, and ye have not done it ? 

" ' Have we not commanded other things which ye have not done ? 

" ' If ye cannot keep these Hght commandments how can we trust greater ones to your 
keeping ? Obey our directions at once, or we must seek another and more faithful circle 
through which to make our revelations to the world. 

" ' (Signed) YouR Guaedian Spirits.' " 



NINRTEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 519 

Direct writing from Spirits is by no means a rare phenomenon, but the 
Spirit cards presented to Mr. Lowe and his associates were continued for 
such a length of time (a space of several years) and occurred, without the 
least shadow of suspicion attaching to the parties concerned, in the presence 
of so many respectable witnesses, that it renders the whole transaction one 
of peculiar and noteworthy interest. 

The original circle is now broken up, and its members scattered far and 
wide over the country, but from many of them the author has received the 
assurance that the good counsel, directing wisdom, comfort, and consola- 
tion conveyed in those precious scraps of writing, formed a gift beyond all 
price to those who were favoured with them. Also, that during the con- 
tinuance of these inestimable messages, the recipients were " all better and 
purer men ;" the time employed in this communion, "the best spent of 
their lives," and the result, an enduring testimony in each one's heart that 
mankind has " entertained angels unawares." 

It has often been asserted that the manifestations occurring in the form 
of hauntings, or what the Germans call the Polter-Gheist or the ghost ivhich 
thToius, are the work of " evil Spirits," the result of " Satanic agency," and 
should be treated with all the formulae of exorcism, &c., &c., but never 
admitted as legitimate proofs of the relations subsisting between the mun- 
dane and super-mundane spheres of being. It is a remarkable fact that 
these sage opinions are never shared by the parties who have received the 
manifestations. On the contrary, they invariably acknowledge, as good Dr. 
Eliakim Phelps has done to the author, that stupendous and violent demon- 
strations of Spirit presence are doubtless absolutely necessary to convince 
some sceptical minds, that many persons could never be otherwise moved, 
and that there seems no just cause for supposing that the Spirits who are the 
agents in such riotous proceedings, act without due guidance and super- 
vision from higher intelligences, in fact, there are many careful observers 
who contend, that without the obvious and super-mundane demonstrations 
produced by Spirits of a very corporeal nature, the world in this sceptical 
age would never have believed in the fact of Spirit communion at all. 
The following curious history was communicated to the author by the 
gentleman in whose experience it happened, and beneath the very roof 
made memorable by the occurrences narrated. This gentleman subse- 
quently embodied the main facts in a small pamphlet, entitled, "The Oak- 
land Ghost," his aim in publication being, as he stated ; first, to put on 
record circumstances liable to be misrepresented when left to the mercy of 
the local press or the tongue of rumour; next, to advise all who were 
acquainted with him — and, as a public man, his circle of acquaintances is 
a very large one — that he was not ashamed to testify to the truth as he 
understood it; and finally, he wished to draw a parallel between his own 
experiences, with other cases narrated in history, deemed far more authentic 
—because they are antiquated, and cannot be verified — than when they 
occur under the immediate supervision of scores of living and thorouglily 
reliable witnesses. We shall avail ourselves of Mr. Brownell Clarke's 
pamphlet to record his statements rather than draw upon the mere remem- 
brance of his oral descriptions. 

The occurrences about to be narrated took place at the Clarke Mansion, 
Oakland, California, in the month of April, 1874. 

The proprietor of the house is a gentleman holding a high and honourable 
official position, and one who previous to the ensuing occurrences, was a 
devoted member of a Christian church in which his good standing and 



S20 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

that of his family were beyond all shadow of doubt or question. Two 
ladies and two gentlemen occupied rooms in Mr. Clarke's house, and as he 
did not feel at liberty to cite their opinions in support of his own, he 
alludes to these parties only by their initials. 

It may be proper to add however, that they are all as well known as the 
author of the pamphlet, Mr. Thomas Brownell Clarke, himself, and being 
alluded to as residents in his house, they have had every opportunity of 
refuting his published statements had they been so disposed. We shall 
now give such quotations from Mr. Clarke's pamphlet as relate strictly to 
the phenomena occurring, omitting for the sake of brevity the observations 
and reflections of the observers concerning those phenomena about which all 
parties were at that time profoundly ignorant. 

THE OAKLAND GHOST ACCOUNT OF MANIFESTATIONS. 

\_By Thomas Brownell Clarke.'] 

" That the reader may form an intelligent idea of the manifestations, it will 
be necessary first to give a brief description of the house and its occupants. 
It is a one and a half story house, situated in Oakland, California. 
The first floor has five rooms — the second four. The house for a number 
of years previous to becoming my residence, had been occupied by a purely 
orthodox family. No murders had ever been committed within its walls at 
the time previous to these manifestations. Myself, wife, and son of eight 
years, occupied as private room, one in the ell opening from the dining 

room; Mrs. F and sister and my daughter, the two front rooms in the 

second story; Mr. B and Mr. O the two in the rear. The evening 

in question, April 23rd, 1874, the family had been at home as usual. Mr. 

B and Mr. O had been at a neighbour's and did not return until 

a quarter past eleven o'clock. Having retired, but hearing them come in, 
I requested them to lock the doors and put out the lights. When the 
gentlemen 'had been up stairs about fifteen minutes, I heard a noise that 
seemed to be at the front door as though the gong upon it had been lightly 
struck. I went immediately there, but found no one. I closed the door 
and returned to bed. Hardly had I laid down, before that same noise was 
repeated, but much louder ; again I went to the door, and found no one — 
I stepped out on the porch, it being a bright moonlight night, looked in all 
directions for any one who could have rung the bell, but saw no one, and 

so returned in doors — as I did so I spoke to Mr. B whose room was 

at the head of the stairs, asking him if he was making any noise with his 
clock. He replied, no — and asked who is ringing that bell — I replied, that 
is what I wish to know. Immediately he came rushing down the stairs with 
pistol in hand, and said " that is some boy's work," and out of the door he 
went and around the house, but found no boy. When he came in, we 
had quite a conversation as to who had been the cause of this sound, but 
had to give up any solution and again retired ; but a few moments, and 
there was a tremendous shaking of furniture in the dining-room, as though 

some one was rattling the upright piano that stood there. Mr. B 

hearing this, pistol in hand, came rushing down. We met to see no one, 

and were still more astonished than ever. While talking, Mr. B 

walked into the hall, and when opposite the parlour door, he exclaimed in 
an excited manner, ' Clarke, bring a light, quick ! ' I was there in about 

one second, when Mr. B rushed over behind the sofa, and then to the 

bay window. Finding one fastening unclasped, he said, ' That fellow has 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 521 

gone out at the window.' Turning around, and seeing a small reception 
chair lying in the centre of the parlour, I said, ' How came it there ? ' 

B replied, ' I know nothing about it, I did not touch it, but there was 

a man struck me on the back when I called you.' Our astonishment is 
better imagined than described. Meantime I had dressed myself, lighted 
some lamps ; the people above were aroused and conversation as to who 
or what was doing these things became general. As we again retired to 
our separate rooms, we heard a loud rattling noise in the parlour, as though 
bundles of sheet iron had been slammed down on the floor. In about two 
seconds I was there, and only found the blower lying in the centre of the room. 
The gentlemen hearing the noise came rushing from their rooms, with ' What 
made that noise ? ' My daughter, who had slipped on a morning dress and 
come from her room, stood talking to the gentlemen, each of whom had a 
lamp in his hand ; I was standing in the hall below ; she started to come 

down stairs, and when about two-thirds down Mr. B saw a basket of 

silver belonging to him, valued at about three hundred dollars, rise from a 
bureau standing in the extreme end of the hall. He instantly exclaimed, 
'Take care, Nellie!' Having some instinctive knowledge of danger, she 
screamed, and turned the newel post just in tmie to escape the basket, 
that coming down in a half circle, fell with a thud on the floor at the foot 
of the stairs. All supposed the silver ruined as a matter of course ; I 
picked up the basket and contents and carried them to the dining-room, 
where we all assembled to examine, which we did, piece by piece, finding 
no injury on coffee or tea pots, creamer or bowl, save only one very thin 
silver vase which was slightly bruised. 

" Presently Mr. O went outside to take a little fresh air, to strengthen 

his nerves, when we heard a noise in his room, directly over us as though a 

person was jumping with all his might upon the floor. Mr. B and 

myself rushed up into the room, but found no one — neither anything dis- 
turbed. While there, Mr. O- came up to his room — walked to a chair 

in which lay a towel rolled into a bunch. He picked it up as though to 
wipe his hands ; as he did so, he, as well as we, discovered his watch and 
chain lying on the chair. His amazement cannot be described. He 
exclaimed, ' How came that watch in the chair ? ' I said, * I suppose you 
placed it there.' He said, 'I tell you I left it with the chain run through 
the button hole, hooked back into the pocket, and on that bed.' As he 

took the watch from the chair it sprang up, clipping Mr. B on the 

elbow, and landed in the centre of the bed. It now seemed that wonders 
would never cease, so we descended to the dining-room, and commenced 
an inquiry meeting as to the causes of these wonderful phenomena. 

"While thus speculating, one of the solid oak chairs rose about one foot, 
and with the velocity of a boy's top, went revolving across the room some 
ten feet, and sat down as still as though it had never moved 

"While still in the dining-room, there came a great crash in the hall; we 
rushed to see what new development had occurred, and found a box 15 x 
15 inches square, 6 deep, that had contained about twenty lbs. of coal, 
which stood in the upper hall, had been thrown over the baluster and down 
stairs. I picked up the box with what coal I could, and carried them to the 
kitchen. Then came another of our scientific discussions upon electrical, 
magnetic, natural, supernatural, and occult forces. While thus engaged, 
another most frightful noise came from the parlour. Rushing in there, we 
found the same blower lying in the middle of the room bottom up, which, 
when I picked it up previously, I had placed on the hearth face downwards. 



522 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 

" Some one had gone upstairs to tell the ladies what had happened, and 
while thus talking, a large upholstered chair, standing in the hall, went 
whirling around, and down in full view of all. Hardly was this new fact 
well settled, before from the parlour came another racket. Upon going 
there we found the same small reception chair that once before had been 
laid in the centre of the room again lying in the same place. In the mean 
time the family had assembled in the dining-room, discussing this pheno- 
mena. While thus engaged, another heavy oak chair rose and spinning like 
a top, crossed the room in a contrary direction from the previous one. It 

now being about one o'clock, Mr. B had taken his lamp in his hand, 

and standing in the hall door leaning against the casing, said, ' Well, I am 
going to bed, and I won't get up again if they take the end of the house 
out.' No sooner had the words ceased than a large upholstered chair 
rose a few inches, and spinning around, fell out in the middle of the room. 

"After awhile, wearied with this display of legerdemain by an unseen 
power, peace and quiet seeming to have come again, we retired to our 
various rooms in hopes to get a little rest. We were hardly there, however, 
when the whole house was shaken, as by a wave of the sea against a ship. 

Mr. B came rushing out, calling, ' Was that an earthquake ? ' While 

we were talking of this new phenomenon, heavy raps began all over the 
house, which continued for some minutes, appearing to some to be inside 
the house, and to the others outside. It may well be imagined that to a 
sleepy household at that time of night, the novelty soon wore off, and again 
we scattered in various parts of the house with the determination not to get 
up again, come whatever might. Hardly had I laid down when I heard a 
few low, sharp raps, appearing to be in the dining-room. Mrs. Clarke also 
heard the same, and noticed them because of their peculiar sound. In a 
few moments more, we heard the same kind of raps. As I had made up 
my mind not to be disturbed any more, I declined to get up, or even look 
to see the cause. For a while everything remained quiet, and we felt 
encouraged that peace had again come to our household; but in a few 
minutes there came a crashing sound from the parlour, as though some one 
was making kindling wood of the furniture. The ladies directly overhead, 
remarked, ' There goes over that marble-top table in the parlour, and every- 
thing upon it is ruined.' This noise brought me out in about one second, 
and the gentleman downstairs in the same time. 

"We found, lying in the centre of the parlour, that same reception chair, 
for the third time — this time a long shawl, that had been folded and lying 
in the parlour, was opened and spread very carefully over the chair. Two 
large upholstered chairs had been turned around and laid on their backs — 
the same blower was again laid in the centre of the room, and a dining 
chair> face down, was lying upon one end of the table. Upon further 
examination I found another dining chair laid upon its side, and a small 
goblet I had drank out of only a short time before, and set down where the 
chair now lay, had been moved to the other end of the cable, and turned 
bottom up. There seemed to be no end to the diversity of demonstrations. 
Being tired of putting things to rights, which had been my occupation now 
about two hours, I said, for the benefit of these unseen powers, that I should 
put up no more furniture, and they could go on and throw around as much 
as they pleased ; and thus I left the furniture as it lay. As morning was 
drawing near, all well tired out one by one, scattered to obtain some 
little rest. But in a few moments there came the sound of a terrible crash 
in the hall that seemed as though Mr. B 's request had been granted, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 523 

and the end of the house had been torn bodily away. As quick as thought 
I was in the front hall. The two gentlemen made their appearance at the 
top of the stairs about the same time. We found the front door had been 
lifted or removed from its hinges without withdrawing the bolt, and now- 
stood leaning against the newel post, and we had the opportunity of looking 
upon a beautiful moonlight through where the door ought to be. Locks, 
bolts, and even the door itself seemed no impediment to this power. Thus 
ended the first act of occult demonstrations in the ' Clarke Mansion.' 

" The morning of the 24th, Mr. B arose about half-past six o'clock, 

and went over to his place across the street to attend to personal business 
matters. My daughter came downstairs soon after and requested that we 
would let the furniture remain, as she wished to go and invite a neighbour 
to come in and see what had been done. Very soon after we heard con- 
siderable noise. Mrs. Clarke went to the kitchen and questioned the boy 
as to whether or not he had upset a table or made noise otherwise — find- 
ing nothing she returned ; when immediately Miss B came in and 

said, ' Why, you didn't tell me that the sofa had been turned over.' To 
which I replied neither has it. ' Oh, yes, it has, and lies flat on its back.' 
Upon going into the parlour, we found not only the sofa wheeled around in 
front of the grate, and then laid on its back ; but also a zinc safe that 
weighed eleven pounds, had been taken from a whatnot and placed upon 
the back of one of the chairs thrown down the night before. Three books 
were taken from the whatnot on the floor ; a pair of gloves were lying side 
by side ; also a small wooden puzzle had been moved to the middle of the 
room, and a paper covered book was standing on end among the sundries. 
At about a quarter past seven o'clock, my daughter returned with her friends 
to see the midnight orgies, but was much astonished at the new display of 
furniture scattered about the floor. Another convention was held, including 
our outside friends, which discussion culmmated in eating our breakfast, and 
enjoining secrecy upon all within the house. By some oversight the young 
man that came with my daughter was not told to keep silent on this scene, 
so that while we three inmates- of the household passed to San Francisco 
in silence about the matter, this young man thought it a good joke, and 
going over on the boat told a few friends about it. From this the story 
spread. About tw^elve o'clock, I was requested to enlighten a gentleman 
in regard to it, but turned the subject by telling him that he w^as ' sold ' by 
some one and passed on. About two o'clock a reporter called to get 
particulars ; I did not wish to tell a falsehood, and neither could I imagine 
how the rumour had got about town. I said to the reporter that it was 
true that a few chairs moved quite singularly, that I supposed that would 
be the last of it, and I hoped they would not give it public notice. Lest I 
should be visited by other reporters, I immediately left for Oakland. The 
San Francisco Chronicle having heard of the rumour, and as it calls itself 
a ' live paper,' could not bear to go to press without improvement of 
the opportunity for a sensational article. Consequently one of their 
reporters who had a vivid imagination, wrote a two-column article, in regard 
to dancing silver ware, crockery, furniture, &c., at the ' Clarke mansion,' in 
Oakland, which article appearing on the morning of the 25th, as might have 
been expected, set the town in a perfect uproar, discussing the ' Oakland 
Ghost.' .... 

" April 24th, — The family remained the same as the previous night, except 

that I had sent our litttle boy in the country. Mr. O had gone out to 

spend the evening, and did not return until quite late. At about half-past 



524 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

eight, while we were sitting in the dining-room, my daughter remarked that 
after the previous wakeful night, she felt tired and thought she would retire. 
When she was about half way up stairs, recollecting the scene of the basket 
of silver coming at her the night before, I said jokingly, ' Nellie, look out for 
your head.' She replied, * Oh ! it is not time for them to begin yet.' Instantly 
a large upholstered chair standing at the head of the stairs, went revolving and 
lay down across the stairway preventing her getting up. I came to the rescue 
immediately, and picking up the chair put it again in its place. The ladies 
became very much excited, much more so than on the previous night, and 

especially Mrs. F , who declared that she could not live through another 

such night of horror as the previous one, especially as this had commenced 
so early. During our rambling conversation of what had been, and what we 

must do, especially in regard to Mrs. F , Mr. B came from his 

room and went out of doors. While my family were in the dining-room talk- 
ing of these things, there came another crash as though a dozen chairs had 
been crushed in pieces in the hall. As I reached the foot of the stairs, I 
found one of a set of reception chairs that had been standing in the hall 
above. Upon examination, though a very delicate chair, I found no injury, 
not even a scratch; I then proposed to go for a friend, but the ladies all said, 

No, you must not leave us alone. So I waited for Mr. B , who soon 

came in, and while we were standing near the head of the stairs my daughter 

stepped a short distance into Mr. O 's room. Hardly had she done so 

when the chairs went flying around that room. I then left for a friend, whom 
I found at the City Hall. He with four others returned to the 'haunted 
house,' where we found everything had been quiet during my absence. 
These gentlemen after sitting for about half-an-hour began to get tired, 
and were about to leave, when a rattling was heard at the top of the stairs. 
Upon examination we found that a large upholstered chair had been going 
through its accustomed evolutions, and again laid down on the floor. It 
was but a few moments when there came another crash in the hall, one of the 
gentlemen exclaiming, 'There is a chair crushed all to pieces.' Upon 
examination they found a duplicate of the chair that had previously been 
thrown over the balusters down at the foot of the stairs entirely unin- 
jured. Upon further examination they found that when it came over it 
struck the wall with such force as to make two indentations in the plastering 
with the two hind legs. To our agreeable surprise this was the last mani- 
festation of the night, and though watching the entire night no more 
demonstrations came. 

"The sensational article appearing in the Chronicle of the 25th, created 
so much excitement, that our residence was surrounded by hundreds of 
curious people, looking at the ' haunted house,' during the following day. 
Friends came and went, wondering how and who, or by what power had 
these things been done. The ' Oakland Ghost ' became the general theme 
of conversation. 

" Having remained at home, I was visited by the Chronicle reporter, who 
had procured a letter of introduction from a friend, and came for further 
information. Seeing that I was already notorious in connection with this 
mysterious affair, T thought best to tell him the truth about it, and conse- 
quently, gave to the press the items, as they had occurred. 

"As evening came on, with it also came the crowd in increased force. 

Mr. B and Mr. O— — went out soon after dinner, and did not return 

till after ten o'clock. 

" Early in the evening, friends and acquaintances began to call, and of 
course every one was anxious to know of this new wonder. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



525 



"While sitting in the parlour engaged in conversation with various callers 
from Oakland and San Francisco, at about nine o'clock, we all heard dis- 
tinct rapping, that appeared as though the sills under the dining-room had 
been struck by a heavy sledge-hammer. 

"Upon going into that room, we found Mrs. F and my daughter, 

quite excited. They said those heavy raps were directly under Mrs. F 's 

feet. As a matter of course, this was interesting to our visitors, however 
annoying it might be to us. During this examination we had nearly all 
gone into the dining-room. One gentleman remained, and while standing 
in the hall^ the large chair at the head of the stairs went whirling around in 
a most mysterious manner, and down on its side as on the previous evening. 
This evolution was made in full view of the two ladies up stairs. 

*' This renewed the interest of our visitors, and created an intense excite- 
ment among the crowd outside, who had heard the noise made by the 
falling chair. Visitors, in the meantime, had increased, and conversation 
upon the new wonder became general. While thus engaged, a continuous 
sound, as though proceeding from a silver tea bell in the china closet in 
the dining-room, was heard all over the house. The sound continued for 
a moment after the door was opened, but no striking of the hammer was 
made. 

"A few moments after this, an old bell in the kitchen rang quite violently. 
Hardly had we returned from the kitchen, when over the balusters was 
thrown down into the hall, two paper boxes ; one empty, the other contain- 
ing a lady's hat, a covered willow basket, and a small leather bag, which 
were stored in the hall, making so much noise as to be heard outside, 
making the crowd almost furious to get into the house. The basket I laid 
in the hall below, and carried the boxes and bag upstairs, putting them on 
the floor in the hall. Very soon after this performance, one of the small 
reception chairs was thrown over the balusters and down stairs, without 
harm. 

" About this time Mr. B and Mr. O came in. 

"While people walked to and fro, not knowing from where would come 
the next development, as quick as a lightning flash, which was the char- 
acter of all the movements, the same upholstered chair at the head of the 

stairs, went revolving in mid air and down, in the presence of Mr. F , 

who stood in Mr. B 's door talking to him, and in the presence of Miss 

B , who stood in the door of her room directly opposite. 

"A great rush v/as made for this point by the friends in the house, not 
even respecting the privacy of the ladies' room where Mrs. F was con- 
stantly in bed. This chair having been the means of great annoyance to 

us thus far, I placed it in Mr. O 's room where it would be less likely 

to disturb us. The ladies at the time protested, saying ' If you do not leave 
it, who can tell that they will not throw the bureau down,' referring to a 
large, old-fashioned mahogany bureau with mirror on top, that stood in the 
hall at the head of the stairs close to the wall, and close in the corner. 
Quiet having followed this last demonstration, and the house getting nearly 
full of acquaintances, we were compelled to have some one constantly at 
the door to prevent strangers from entering, for this thing of having our 
yard overrun with the crowd, and our house overflowing with friends on 
such an errand, was to us a great nuisance. While the crowd were 

scattered in parlour, dining-room, and hall, Mr. S , who was standing 

at the foot of the stairs, looking directly up at the bureau, saw it begin to 
jump about, and in an instant, fall forward, being caught on the turn of 



526 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

the baluster, falling so hard, that it indented the mahogany rail a quarter 
of an inch, and jarred the uprights of the balusters loose in their sockets, 
making so much noise, that it was heard by the hundreds outside. The 
gentlemen in the hall rushed up to right the bureau ; but before so doing, 
were careful to look for springs or contrivances of any kind, by which this 
could have been done, and found none ; but they did find that this heavy 
bureau had been moved forward about one foot, and endwise about one foot, 
before being tipped; also, that notwithstanding the force that could indent 
a mahogany rail, the marble of the bureau was not broken ; and more 
remarkable still, the mirror upon the top was unharmed. * 

"At this time, five gentlemen well known to me, came to the door, and 
requested to be admitted with the privilege of remaining in the house all 
night. I acceded to their request and have their evidence to close the 
mouths of all vilifiers of their neighbours' characters. At the request of the 
ladies, I again brought out the chair as the lesser evil, and set it at the end 
of the bureau in the hall, where it had previously stood, and from whence 
it had performed its various evolutions. As usual, between the acts, quiet 

in good measure reigned. Mr. S , who stood at the foot of the stairs, 

in a few moments, saw this same upholstered chair going through its 
accustomed evolutions, but this time it started down stairs, end for end, 
and was caught by him. Inthis descent, one of the legs was broken, being 
the first harm that had happened to any one or anything, save the small, 

thin, silver vase. Soon after this, the chairs in Mr. O 's room were 

heard moving about, and upon examination were found lying on the floor 
in a promiscuous manner. As it was getting late, one by one our friends 
were leaving, until the house seemed again at rest. A number of us were 

sitting in the parlour, among them Mr. O sitting in a large Turkish 

chair reading a newspaper. While thus sitting, to the great astonishment 
of US all, -he sprang from the cha;r, lauding on the other side of the room, 
exclaiming, ' Heavens, that chair was going up with me ! ' My daughter 
saw the chair rise from the floor before he sprang ; I saw it immediately 

after. This was followed by a good hearty laugh at Mr, O for his 

fright ; this being the first time his calmness had deserted him ; in fact, 

fear is not a quality of any of that household, including Mrs. F , the 

invalid, for when she did leave, it was that she might get rest — not from 

fear. After this, Mr. O , thinking that this thing would never end, and 

that he must have rest, retired to his room with the intent of remaining for 
the night. The balance of our friends, save those expecting to spend the 
night, had all left. Myself and four of the gentlemen were seated in the 
parlour ; one was standing in the hall. Almost imperceptibly to us all, the 
hat-box containing the lady's hats that I had put on the floor in the hall 
above, was silently set directly in the parlour door. Again I carried it up 
stairs, but for safe keeping, placed it in a ladies' room. It now being about 
twelve o'clock, the crowd outside, well tired of looking at the • haunted 
house,' and seeing nothing, had nearly all left. Mr, O , feeling some- 
what nervous while in his room, changed his mind, and concluded he 
would not retire, but again go down stairs and sit awhile longer. As he 
came from his room he closed his door. Looking directly up the stair-way, 
to my utter astonishment, I saw a trunk strike the wall, fly past me, and set 

down at the foot of the stairs. Upon getting in the hall, Mr. O 

exclaimed, * That is my trunk.' I rushed upstairs, found my daughter and 

Mr, B looking down, who asked what it was that had made that noise, 

I said it is O d's trunk. 'Nonsense,' said Mr. B , *why his door 



■ NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 527 

has not been opened.' My daughter repeated the same words, and said, 
' Why, look at the door ; it is now closed, and has not been opened since 

Mr. O went downstairs.' Immediately the trunk was brought up, and 

the door found closed, and Mr. O declared that he closed it when he 

went down but a few minutes before. The trunk weighed ninety pounds, 
contained a large glass tube, a dozen small glass tubes, a quantity of 
glass bottles, containing artist's oils, a palette, brushes, pictures, papers, &c., 
and though the trunk was quite upset, not a single thing in the inside was 
injured. In its flight the trimk did not revolve, and was set down at the foot 

of the stairs the same as it had stood in Mr. O 's room. An afghan, that 

had been spread over the trunk, was found spread over the balusters, as 
though it had been left by the trunk sliding out from under it. After the 
excitement of this last unexplainable demonstration had died away, we as- 
sembled in the dining-room as headquarters. Quiet continued for about one 
hour, which being longer than the usual intervals between the manifestations, 
we had made up our minds that there would be no more this night, and one 
by one the chamber lodgers had retired to their separate rooms, leaving Mrs. 

Clarke upon the lounge in the dining-room. Col. V , C. T , H. 

P , F. P , and myself, sitting about the dining-room, Two of the 

five thought best to go home after the trunk performance. I learned since 

that at that eventful moment, Mr. B was nearly if not quite asleep ; 

Mr. O stood with his hand on the thumb screw of his lamp, having at 

that instant turned the hght out ; the ladies were all in a semi-sleep — our- 
selves as above stated, when in an instant the whole house was illuminated, 
as by the flash of a powerful drummond light, and there came a long, terri- 
ble scream of a female voice, that filled the whole house. It appeared to 
me as the last wail of despair from the regions of hell itself. Every one of 
us were on our feet instantly, and white with horror at the sound of this 
voice. Mention it to this day to any one who heard it, and the cold chills 
creep over their mortal frame. In a moment I flew to the ladies' room, 
and found them in a state of excitement exceeding our own. My daughter 
screaming, 'Oh, that dreadful scream ; that horrid face,' 

*' The illumination seemed to have the effect of causing the partitions of 
the whole house to vanish for all of us, both up stairs and down ; the 
centre of the light was in the hall, from which centre the visible woman 
was seen, and from which centre came the scream. 

" Though accustomed to all this for three nights ; regarding the revolution 
of a chair, as calmly as the waving of a tree in the breeze, our frames 
trembled, and every face was blanched as we saw and heard the phenome- 
non that closed the scene. 

" I have made record of the facts. The honest philosopher that shall 
investigate and give to the world the cause, if within material philosophy, 
can immortalize himself. 

" That the reader may be assured that I was not deluded by the pheno- 
mena called modern Spiritualism, I will give an account of my first seance. 
It was held at my residence in the haunted house, Sunday evening, the 
26th day of April, 1874, I returned from San Francisco at nine o'clock, 
finding my residence surrounded by about five hundred people ; inside the 
house, some twenty or thirty. The dining-room I found occupied by a 
Chronicle reporter, who, with Mr. and Mrs. Foye, were holding a seance for 
the purpose of allowing the Spirit world to come and control Mrs. Foye, 
who is a Spiritual Medium of great note, and explain all these wonderful 
manifestations. After I had assured myself that there were police enough 



528 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

on the outside to keep the four or five hundred people from destroying the 
real property, garden, &c. ; spoken a word or two to the twenty or thirty 
inside, hunted up my wife whom I found occupying an ' upper chamber ' 
(made vacant by the two ladies whom I had taken to town, and mydaughter, 
who had gone to a neighbour's), I returned to the dining-room, and joined 
the Spiritual circle. 

** We sat in a quiet condition until twelve o'clock without the least mani- 
festation of Spirits to either move the furniture, or Mrs. Foye. I then said 
to Mrs. Foye, that it was a very singular phenomenon ; that I could always 
bring spirits, and that she could not, and that I still had faith in my ability 
to continue to do so. This made their eyes brighten. I remembered 
that there was some choice whisky in the closet, and being much exhausted, 
I stepped to the closet, brought out the botde, some glasses, and a dish of 
cake as a real manifestatipn of Spirits. This was all the Spirits we saw or 
heard that sea?ice. Justice to Mr. and Mrs. Foye demands that I add, that 
neither touched the whisky. But it is no slander to add, that the reporter 
drank enough for all three. It is also justice to add, for the honesty of 
Mrs. Foye as a Medium, that though her Spiritual theory was here put to a 
public test and failed, she proved an honest, true woman and Medium, to 
write only as moved by the unseen. 

" This account, I claim, should stand as it came, as involving philosophical 
facts, capable of investigation upon the plane of tangible realities. There 
was no dark seance, no secret, no humbug, no fraud, but eternal truth, to 
stand when all the actors of this day, shall have passed on " 

The names of the gentlemen who shared with the Clarke family the 
horrors of the weird watch nights detailed above, although mentioned by 
Mr. Clarke in initials only, were soon revealed in the newspaper articles 
that flooded the country for many weeks after these startling occurrences 
had ceased. 

A lady residing at Oakland, in the immediate vicinity of the possessed 
mansion, wrote to her sister in New York, who, being a Spirituahst, sent 
the letter to the Banner of Light for publication. As it contains the 
off-hand observations of a wholly disinterested neighbour of the Clarke 
family, its perusal may be of some interest to the candid inquirer. This 
lady, writing under date of April 28, 1874, says : — 

" Great excitement has prevailed here for the past few days, and people are all waiting 
for further developments. Spirits have been so unquestionably at work that I think 
there is hardly a person in Oakland, even the most sceptical, but admits that these 
remarkable occurrences are the result of supernatural agencies. Last Thursday night 
a family, consisting of three or four gentlemen and as many ladies, living in a house only 
four or five blocks from us, retired, as usual, and at about one o'clock were wakened by a 
noise as though Bedlam were let loose. The gentlemen, going downstairs and lit^hting 
the gas, witnessed the proceedings. The piano, shut and locked, was playing itself, and 
the furniture moving around in the liveliest manner. One chair edged up to Mr. Bayley, 
and, springing up, hit him in the eye. Suddenly they were startled by a great crash, 
and found that the door, which was strongly bolted, had been carried seven feet from the 
doorway, without a single bolt being slid or hinge broken. Similar manifestations 
continued through Saturday night.' On Friday a large trunk lifted itself over the 
raiUng and came crashing down the stairs. Subsequently several chairs came down in 
the same way. This is no newspaper sensation, for on the second and third nights a 
great many people were at the house and witnessed these things. I can't begin to tell 
you all. Henry is acquainted with a good many of the gentlemen who saw these 
performances — men who could not have any reason for making misstatements. Saturday 
night the phenomena ended with the most fearful, blood-curdling shriek that ever 
greeted mortal ears. Strong men, to whom fear was unknown, were perfectly unmanned, 
and Mr. Clarke, the tenant of the house, said that if all Oakland were his he would 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 529 

willingly give it for the sake of having that shriek effaced from his memory, for 
it haunted him night and day. We have heard no more lately, and very likely 
nothing more will happen, but this has been enough to set us all thinking, for, 
although I have never been a beHever in Spirituahsm, I do think spirits have been at 
work here." 

Notwithstanding the fact that a large number of credible witnesses all 
testified to the same occurrences, that those occurrences were calculated 
to produce indescribable distress, annoyance, loss, and injury to 
the subjects of them ; that their health was affected, and their house 
turned into a Babel to which the curious resorted as to a menagerie for 
months after the phenomena had ceased, the papers soon began to insinuate 
the old story of trickery, and some even ventured to hint that the whole 
thing was got up for — none could pretend to say why or wherefore — but 
still "got up," because the parties who said so didn't believe in such things 
themselves. 

We shall conclude, in justice to Mr. Clarke, also as an illustration of what 
kind of a community Spiritual gifts and powers have been obliged to struggle 
with to obtain acceptance at all, by a few closing quotations from his 
pamphlet. 

Tn reference to the committee of citizens for the investigation of the 
subject alluded to above, Mr. Clarke says : — 

" The evidence, given at the solicitation of respectable citizens, was obtained only by 
the agreement that names should not be made pubhc ; for every member of the family 
was already disgusted with notoriety, and only in the interest of science did we 
consent to the tax upon our time, and the expense made. The gentlemen selected to 
make examination, and take the evidence that could be obtained for the purpose of 
establishing the presence of a power not known in physical sciences, consisted of the 
Rev. J. K. McLean, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Oakland, Joseph Le 
Count, Professor at the University of CaUfornia, and W. W. Crane, Esq. 

" The positions of these gentlemen seemed to guarantee an honest examination, and a 
truthful verdict ; but when this verdict, ' We find the evidence insufficient to indicate the 
action or presence of any supernatural, or of any occult natural agency whatever,' was 
rendered, Jesus Christ was not more surprised when Pilate said, ' I find no fault in this 
man,' and yet ordered him to the crucifixion, than we and the intelligent people of 
Oakland were on receipt of this ' Bunsby ' verdict. 

" The witnesses were twenty in number, composed of gentlemen holding the highest 
offices of trust, foreign consuls, doctors of divinity, lawyers, bankers, merchants, and ladies 
professing and living the Christian rehgion. 

" Every demonstration recorded in this volume was proved to the entire satisfaction 
of the men sitting as judges. Each witness went before them alone, and told the story, 
submitting to as mucli cross-questioning as in the hardest contested case in court, and 
with no opposing council, until the reporter's volume reached the enormous amount of 
three hundred and twenty pages ; to which the committee added forty pages of summary, 

endeavouring to show that Mr. B was the cause of all the manifestations, instead 

of attempting to arrive at simple truth." 

Mr. Clarke adds : " These gentlemen, after assuring me in the most 

Christian spirit that they exonerate Mr. O , the ladies, and all my family, 

and, at the same time, knew that Mr. B . was absent during many of the 

manifestations, still repeat : ' We find no evidence of a supernatural or of any 
occult natural agency whatever.' " If any proof were wanted to show, that 
Christian Divines are not always honest, or learned scientists not always 
wise, the above sage verdict would furnish that proof, rendered as it was, 
in defiance of reason, justice, probability, and all the grounds upon which 
human testimony is received by experienced juries all over the world." 



34 



530 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER LIX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED). 

Spiritual Phenomena of Various Kinds. 

The following chapter will present to the reader examples of the phenomena 
still frequently occurring in different parts of America. 

When the manifestations of Spirit presence, or the unfoldment of Spiritual 
powers in special directions, were first witnessed during the earlier periods 
of the new dispensation, it was customary to send full details of the same 
to the Spiritual journals, and thus it was that phenomenal demonstrations 
appeared to be more prevalent than at the present time. We have reason 
to believe this is not the case, but rather that the exhibitions of Spirit power 
having become more familiar, excite less attention and are less carefully 
chronicled than formerly. Still the records of preternatural events already 
in print are so extensive, that the author finds her chief difliculty in selecting 
well-attested representative cases from the immense mass of material in 
her possession. Following out the plan steadily pursued throughout the 
earHer chapters of this volume, we shall give invariable preference to those 
narratives for which the author can personally vouch, and relate such inci- 
dents as present the most varied aspects. 

The following sketches refer to a young man who has come forward as 
a remarkable writing and test Medium within the last few years in America. 

Although the author has received personal evidence of Mr. Phillips' 
Mediumship of the most convincing character, it may be more satisfactory 
to offer the testimony of two gentlemen of such authoritative standing and 
unquestionable veracity as Professor J. R. Buchanan and the Hon. J. L. 
O'Sullivan. It is to the statements of these gentlemen therefore that we refer, 
in the following proofs of Spirit agency. 

In lectures given in aid of different Spiritual enterprises by Mr. J. L. 
O'Sullivan (late American Minister to Portugal), that gentleman stated, that in 
company with Professor Buchanan, of New York, he had had three testing 
sittings with a young man named Phillips, who was a pleasing honest youth 
and afforded grand instances of psychographic mediumship. Writing was 
plentifully obtained on two joined slates placed on the top of the table 
under their hands. On one occasion the slates were placed at a distance of 
twelve feet from the Medium, and when taken up contained six messages — 
two in Latin, the rest in French, Italian, English, and Oriental characters. 

The first in Latin was : " Homines damnant quod non intelligunt " 
(Men condemn what they do not understand) ; the other was a quotation 
from Horace of the two hexameter lines : 

" Rusticus expectat, dum defluat amnis, at ille 
Labitur et labetur in omne volubilis sevum." 

(The countrymau looks on awaiting the flowing away of the river, 
But it flows, in its whirling course, and will flow on for ever.) 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 531 

After Mr. O'Sullivan had placed the joined slates in position under the 
distant chair (all in full light), the Medium handed him a paper containing 
a quantity of corn-flour, suggesting to him to place it by the slates, as some- 
limes it was found strewed over them. 

When the three raps on the table at which they were sitting gave the 
signal for examining the slates, the under slate was found covered with 
six different communications, and also with the impress in flour (over the 
wiiting) of the ends of the four fingers and thumb of a large hand. The 
flour had to be blown or lightly brushed away to get fully at the underlying 
writing. In the little heap of flower in the paper alongside were found the 
corresponding indentations left by the invisible hand. Both slates and flour 
had been under the keen vigilance of the two gentlemen who sat at the 
table with Mr. Phillips. 

A piece of paper was placed between two slates on the table, and there 
was found written on it an elegant and almost literal Latin translation of 
the well-known child's hymn, " Twinkle, twinkle, little star." The Medium 
does not know a word of Latin, nor would such knowledge have availed in 
this case, as the paper was inaccessible to him, being securely placed 
between two slates. With Mr. Phillips neither slate nor lead pencil was 
ever placed between the slates. Those who did the writing brought or 
made their own pencils. The translation was as follows — 

" Mica, mica, parva stella, 
Miror quanam sis tarn bella, 
Splendens eminus in illo 
Alba velut gemma coelo.'' 

The small piece of paper on which it was written had been torn by 
Dr. Buchanan from a large sheet, at the moment of placing the slates, from 
which the hands of the sitters never stirred. The torn edges, of course, 
identified the paper. It was said to have been written by Dr. Buchanan's 
father. 

On the third evening, a piece of paper was placed by Mr. O'Sullivan 
between slates, which were allowed to remain under a chair some six or 
eight feet from the sitters. On examination after some time no writing was 
found on either slate or paper. 

It was accordingly removed by Mr. O'Sullivan (the medium never quitting 
his seat at the table) and the slates left in the same place. On being taken 
up soon afterwards a large green leaf was found between the slates, bearing 
an inscription in Chinese characters, written with a reddish brown pigment. 

Mr. O'Sullivan produced this leaf itself to his audience, framed and 
protected under glass, and bearing date "June 14, 1880." The leaf is 
in a perfect state of preservation, and the Chinese characters are well- 
formed and quite distinct, though now blackened, presumably by the action 
of the light. A Japanese gentleman made the following translation : 
" The doctrine of Christ is in the centre of our true heart and not the 
external adornment." 

In answer to an inquiry from what spirit this had proceeded, the reply, 
by psychographic writing, was "Confucius." 

Several accounts have been written of this remarkable phenomenon, and 
the author has been presented with a fine copy of the photographed leaf, 
the plate of which was carefully prepared by Mr. Henry J, Newton, of 
New York^President of the First Society of Spiritualists, and an amateur 
photographer of considerable skill. 



532 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

The edges of the leaf, originally perfect, are now somewhat torn, having 
been gummed by Dr. Buchanan to the paper on which it was laid when 
framed under glass. The drying of the leaf has also wrinkled it and torn 
it a little apart in one place. The Japanese gentleman who translated the 
inscription said that the leaf was of a tree from which silkworms are fed 
in Japan. 

This phenomenon makes intelligible and no longer incredible the stories 
told by travellers of the holy tree at the sacred city, Lassa, in Thibet, the 
leaves of which are said to contain certain sacred names or phrases. Since 
a Spirit has thus written on one leaf, why not on many ? 

Another phase of Spirit art quite as marvellous as the above, is that 
displayed by the Mediumship of Mrs. L. M. Blair, a lady who paints large 
groups of flowers, shaded and coloured with remarkable skill, whilst care- 
fully blindfolded by sceptical persons selected from the audiences before 
whom she exhibits her marvellous powers. 

When first the author became a witness of this lady's extraordinary 
Mediumship, she was giving a public seance in the town of Oswego. 
Entering the room before the commencement of the exercises, Mrs. 
Hardinge Britten and her party watched the operations of the two sceptics 
who had been named by the audience to blindfold the Medium. This work 
was evidently accomplished with a will which left no chance of admitting 
the smallest ray of light to the closed eyes of the entranced artist. Directly 
afterwards Mrs. Blair commenced painting with astonishing rapidity, 
dipping her one brush now into this colour, now into that, without making 
the smallest mistake in the selection. When the picture was completed, 
the Medium, still entranced, stated that it was an allegorical representation 
of the life and work of a lady then present, and having explained in choice 
language the meaning of the flowery group, and detailed most minutely the 
design expressed in every petal and colour, she commanded it to be carried 
" to the stranger who sat so thickly veiled," in such a part of the hall, 
that even had the veil been raised, the distance from the platform would 
have utterly precluded all chance of recognition. The party who received 
the picture had never before seen Mrs. Blair. The interpretation of the 
allegory as given through the entranced lips of the Medium exactly fitted 
the recipient's Hfe woof, and as Mrs. Blair has never met that stranger, 
and even the small recompense sent for this wonderful test of Spirit power 
was conveyed anonymously, the author rejoices in this opportunity of 
doing justice alike to the Spirit friends and the Medium through whom they 
worked, by acknowledging, that Mrs. Hardinge Britten was the well-pleased 
but greatly surprised recipient of this fine test. We deem it right to add 
another illustrative account of Mrs. Blair's powers, succinctly given in the 
following extract from a narrative furnished to the Banner of Light by one 
of its most esteemed and reliable correspondents. This gentleman says : — 

" It was at Montpelier I first saw Mrs. L. M. Blair, now Mrs. Murdock, who resides 
near the village of Rockbottom, some thirty miles west of Boston, Mass. I think she is 
one of the most remarkable mediums in this country. She was deeply interested in our 
s6anees, and attended them in Montepelier, Barre, and Northfield, Vt. She was born with 
only one arm, and that one is often controlled by what claims to be an Italian artist who 
lived on the shores of the Mediterranean, and passed to spirit-life about seventy years ago. 
I have in my parlour a painting, some twelve by sixteen inches. It represents a delicate 
hand holding a few branches of a rosebush which contain twelve full-blown roses, a 
number of buds, leaves, etc., so placed as to partially cover a motto : ' We'll bless you for 
ever.' This painting was executed by Mrs. Blair while she was effectually blindfolded, 
and in the brief time of eleven minutes. I have taken it to at least half-a-dozen 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 533 

prominent artists in Boston, and asked them how long it would take them to paint a 
duplicate, and the shortest time given by any one of them was five hours. 

" During the time that her hand is controlled to paint, her brain and vocal organs are 
controlled \y^ another spirit who talks very fluently on almost any subject you mention. 
He said to me that he had to keep the medium unconscious during the time the artist was 
painting, as she was so sensitive to any sceptical remarks that might be made in her 
presence that the other spirit could not control the hand satisfactorily. 

" Her paintings are all in water colors, and she, or the spirit, uses only one brush, 
which is cleansed in a tumbler of water as soon as one color is used. I have seen her 
painting on many different occasion, but I have never seen her return to the same color 
after she has rinsed the brush. AH the red, green, yellow, or other color she uses, is 
laid on before she commences with another color, and any of her paintings when half 
done are greater curiosities than when fully completed. 

" One day as I sat watching her, and talking with the spirit that controlled her speech, 
I called attention to another part of the room, and although her eyes were blindfolded 
she turned her head for a moment in the opposite direction, and I picked up the tumbler 
and held it directly at the back of her head. As soon as it became necessary to wash the 
brush again, the controlling spirit brought the hand of the medium over her shoulder 
and washed out the brush as readily as if the tumbler was in its accustomed place, and 
proceeded at once with another color. 

"While I have been talking with one of her controlling spirits the other would answer 
my questions in writing at the same time. He assures me that he paints more beautiful 
pictures in the spirit- world than have ever been seen on earth. I asked what use he 
made of paintings in his country, and he replied that they were used there, as here, to 
adorn their homes which are in every respect as real as are our homes in this life." 

We have already-given one representative account of Spirit photography,and 
some of the friends to whom these chapters have been shown, have objected 
that Mr. Mumler's case might seem exceptional, were it not duplicated. 
The author is in possession of a large number of well-attested evidences 
that Spirit photographs have been taken under circumstances that admitted 
of no chance for deception. Amongst these — since it seems desirable to 
duplicate cases of so remarkable a nature — we offer the following example, 
testified to by witnesses of the most undoubted veracity. 

Mr. Julius Plaetz, photographer, Kansas City, Missouri, writing to the 
Spiritual papers under date March, 1882, says : — 

"No. 618, Main-street, Kansas City, Missouri, March 11th, 1882. 

" Concerning the phenomena of Spirit- Photography, although I do not profess to be a 
Spiritualist, I deem it just and right to state that while Mrs. Lizzie Carter, the spirit- 
photographer, was taking spirit-photographs at my gallery, she prepared the plates in my 
presence and the presence of my operators in the same manner, using the same chemicals 
as used by myself in taking photographs ; she used the same camera, the same furniture 
which I use daily, and which has been used at my gallery during the last ten years. And 
on all the photographs she took, from two to eight human faces and frequently full forms 
besides that of the sitter did appear, in fact two-thirds of all the plates she used while at 
my gallery, from January 20th to March 6th, 1882, were prepared and developed by 
myself or my operators, always with the same result. 

" And I desire to further state that myself and my operators have frequently, without 
the knowledge of Mrs. Carter, tested her so-called mediumship in various ways, by 
exchanging plates wliich she had handled and prepared from the plate-holder, replacing 
others prepared by ourselves such as she had never seen nor handled before, but still the 
result was the same ; human faces and forms would appear in addition to the sitter on 
every photograph she took. I fui'ther state that she has taken photographs of a number 
of persons strangers to her, and known to me to be sceptics, but still the result was the 
same — spirit faces on every photograph. 

" I have been a practical photographer for over twenty years, am well acquainted with 
all the details of the business, and I declare that there is no chemical process known by 
which the phenomena, such as produced by Mrs. Carter, can be duplicated. 

"The only observable difference in the process of taking a photograph between Mrs, 
Carter and other photographers is, that Mrs. Carter generally lays her hands on the 
camera whUe she takes the photograph ; this, and only this, is the difference I have 
been able to discover in the operation during about six weeks of daily observation at my 



534 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

gallery. Of course myself and many other experts in ptiotograpliy, among other experi- 
ments made, did not fail to lay our hands on the camera, stood on the same spot in the 
same position generally occupied by herself, &c., but all was of no avail, the spirits would 
not and did not come for any or either of us. — Yours, &c., 

" Julius Plaetz, Photographer." 

In addition to the statements of one more Spiritualist, we offer those of 
a physician, a well-known and highly respected resident of Kansas City, 
who writes to the London Medium and Daybreak in the following terms : — 

"Kansas City, Mo., U.S.A., March 11th, 1882." 

" Allow me to state briefly through your paper my experiences, had lately, relative to 
the phenomenon known as Spirit-Photography, through the mediumship of Mrs. Lizzie 
Carter, at the Photographic Gallery of Mr. Julius Plaetz, No. 618, Main Street, this city. 
I notice your comments in your number of the Medium and Dayhrealc, of February 11th, 
1882, entitled, ' Chronicles of Spirit-Photography,' and as this beautiful phase of medium- 
ship has recently elicited much interest among investigators of this city and vicinity 
during the last six weeks, it was proposed to Mrs. Carter to give a sitting under test 
conditions, to wliich she cheerfully consented. Consequently on the 4th inst., Messrs. W. 
W. Judson, Fred Meyers, H. M. Johnson, John E. Fleming, and your humble servant 
constituted ourselves a committee to investigate this phase of mediumship, and I take 
pleasure in laying before your readers the details of its results. 

" We procured a plate-holder in Mr. Plaetz's gallery, fitting the camera through which 
Mrs. Carter took photographs, and proceeded with it to the photographic gallery of Messrs. 
Wmiams and Thomson, 612, Main Street ; requested Mr. Thomson, one of the proprietors, 
to place in our presence a prepared plate for taking an ordinary photograph in that plate- 
holder. The plate was prepared and placed in the plate-holder, in the dark room at the 
gallery of Messrs Williams and Thomson, in our presence, the plate-holder then wrapped 
in a covering to exclude the light and carried by Mr. Thomson ; thus we returned 
together to the gallery of Mr. Plaetz. Mr. Thomson was here introduced to Mrs. Carter 
and requested to hand her the plate-holder. Mrs. Carter requested that the camera be 
examined, which was accordingly done by Mr. Thomson, he being an expert in his profes- 
sion as photographer, next your humble servant was requested to sit for a photograph. 

" Mrs. Carter then placed the camera in position, removed the covering from the plate- 
holder and, without opening the same, placed it in the camera. After the lapse of eight 
seconds, during which time Mrs. Carter held her hands on the camera, she removed the 
plate-holder from the camera, aad without opening it, handed it back to Mr. Thomson 
with the request to go to his gallery and develop the plate. The committee returned with 
Mr. Thomson to his gallery in the dark room, when Mr. Thomson handed the plate-holder 
to his operator, requesting him to remove the plate and develop it in our presence. The 
operator admitted that this was the same plate he had placed in that plate-holder a few 
minutes before, that it had not been taken out, but was there just as he himself had 
placed it. 

" He applied the necessary chemicals generally used by photographers to develop the 
negative and nothing more, and on presenting the negative to the light, there appeared 
on it five human faces distinctly outlined in addition to the face of the sitter. Mr. 
Thomson after making several proofs, delivered the negative to me, which I handed to 
Mr. Plaetz, to be printed. 

" These are the facts and the result of our investigation, and I lay them before your 
readers as they occurred in our presence. — EespectfuUy yours, H. F. Bungardt, M.D. 

'• The undersigned spectators present at the time the photograph mentioned was taken, 
and members of the committee as above referred to, having carefully examined the fore- 
going statement of the proceedings, acknowledge the same to be true and correct in every 
particular : — 

Virginia J. Judson ; W. W. Judson ; 

H. M. Johnson; Justin Robinson; 

Fred Meters ; John E. Flemming ; 

D. P. Thomson, Photographer ; Jacob Sherman. 

Julius Plaetz, Photographer." 

Both the following cases are well known to the author, and being 
narrated by highly respected citizens of Troy and Chicago, will be read 
with interest by the many parties acquainted with Mr. Vosburgh, and the 
Rev. M. H. Forscutt 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 535 

The first article is copied from the Troy Standard, and reads thus : — 

" In the year 1850 I was engaged in business and resided at "West Troy. There lived 
in the town a family named Thalimer. The family was composed of father, mother, three 
sons, Peter, James, and Henry, and Elizabeth, the daughter. James desired very greatly 
to embark on a sea voyage. His parents opposed him for some time ; but he finally, 
without their knowledge, ran away one day and shipped for a three-years' voyage in the 
whale fishery, from New Bedford, Mass. About this time the Fox girls visited Troy, and 
there was considerable excitement in reference to the claims set forth by them. The 
opposition by the press and people was very marked against them. James had been 
absent about one year and a half, when Elizabeth, his sister, was entertaining a party 
at the family residence one evening. 

" In the midst of their sport one of the party said by way of a satirical sally at 
Spiritualism, * Oh, let's form a circle ! ' No sooner said than done ; the table was moved 
out into the middle of the room and several of the company, EHzabeth among the number, 
gathered around it. They had not rested their hands on it more than a moment or two 
when Elizabeth's was seized by a power foreign to her own, which very much frightened 
her. She tried to extricate herself, but without avail. The intelligence moving her hand 
motioned as though it desired to write. One of the company procured paper and pencil ; 
her hand instantly caught up the pencil and wrote aa follows : ' I fell from the yard-arm 
of the ship to the deck and was killed ; this will be verified by letter from the captain of 
the ship. — James Thalimer.' 

" The company was very much excited and broke up at once, going to their respective 
homes. The next morning Henry Thalimer, the father, knowing me to be a Spiritualist, 
called on me and related the circumstances, and wanted my opinion. I replied that I 
honestly believed James had fallen, as stated, and that it was a genuine spiritual mani- 
festation. I advised him to be patient and await the verification which I assured him 
would no doubt come by maU. In about ten days after, Mr. Thalimer received a letter 
from the captain of the vessel confirming the truth of the communication through his 
daughter's hand. 

" After a lapse of thirty years, in August, 1880, I was at Lake Pleasant camp-meeting. 
One afternoon while seated on the stoop fronting the hotel, two Troy gentlemen approached 
and invited me to take a walk mth them. I accepted, and we walked wherever inclination 
led us, not having in view any particular place we desired to visit. We were passing along 
by what is called the open square, and discovered under a large tent a great throng of 
ladies and gentlemen, who seemed intently interested in what was taking place. 
Being desirous of learning what it was, we drew near, and discovered a lady under what 
was claimed as spirit-control, giving tests of spirit-identity to the people assembled. This 
lady, I desire to state, neither my friends nor myself ever met before. She was an entire 
stranger to us. We noticed that she gave a number of tests, names, dates, circumstances, 
and events which were corroborated by different persons in the audience. All at once she 
exclaimed under great excitement : ' I see an immense ship nearing me ; this vessel seems 
to be labouring in a terrible storm. It seems as though this vessel would come upon me. 
Now I see a young man going aloft. My God ! ' she said, ' this man will fall and will be 
killed.' She watched him with intense interest, and then she suddenly shrieked so loud 
as to be heard in all the surroundings : ' Oh ! my God ! he falls to the deck and is killed.' 
Her eyes were riveted to the spot for a moment in perfect silence. 

" She then said, ' This young man gives me his name. He says he is James Thalimer, 
of West Troy, N. Y.' I at once repKed, raising my hat, ' Yes, that is correct.' The lady 
then moved from the platform, and motioning with her hands for the people to make way 
for her, she came to where I was standing, and threw her arms around my neck, exclaiming, 
' Vosburgh, God bless you ! I am glad to meet you here. This is the second time I have 
been able to return and identify myself. First through my sister, which you knew of, 
and second through this ladv, a stranger to us both. God bless you, Vosburgh ! ' 

" Troy, N. Y., Sept. 4th,'l882. " W. H. Vosburgh." 

The Chicago Times of 1880, has the following statement : — 

" It will be remembered that there was published a few weeks since an account of the 
death of Mr. Frank Culver, of 606, West Jackson Street, who died on July 7th, from 
sewer gas poisoning. Almost immediately after, Mr. Culver's little daughter passed on, 
as the medical attendants alleged, from the same cause. At the funeral of the chUd, the 
Rev. Mr. Forscutt, who only a short time previous had attended the interment of Mr. 
Frank Culver, made the following remarkable and startling statement. The narrative is 
furnished by the Times reporter, who was sent to call on Mr. Forscutt, with a view of 



536 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

correcting any mistakes that might have arisen by giving publicity to the subject on the 
strength of rumour alone. The reporter says : — 

" ' Mr. Forscutt was found in his study at No. 619, West Lake Street. He had the 
appearance of a man who is guided by plain common sense, and answered the questions 
put to him in as matter-of-fact a way as could be desired. He said that he was sitting in 
his study just one week after the death of Mr. Culver, quietly reading. His thoughts 
were on a subject entirely foreign to anything pertaining to Mr. Culver, when he was 
suddenly impelled to look up — Mr. Culver stood before him, not more than six feet 
distant, and as natural as he had seen him dozens of times in his study. It did not occur 
to him that Mr. Culver was dead, and that his body had been buried. As soon as he 
looked up, Mr. Culver said in his familiar tones, " I want Pearl. I want her to come 
with me." Mr. Forscutt says that he asked, " Do you think it would be better for her to 
go than to stay here ? Have you any knowledge of future evils which might befall her on 
earth ?" " No, I have not," Mr. Culver replied, " but I want her with me. I went to 
her to-day and called her, and she lifted up her hands and cried for ' Papa,' I know she 
wants to come." 

" ' Mr. Forscutt says he replied to the effect that it was a question which should 
predominate, fatherly or motherly affection, but he would advise that the matter be 
submitted to the Lord, and say, " Thy wiU be done." He would go to the mother and 
encourage her to submit to the affliction if it should seem best for Pearl to die. 

" ' In a moment the apparition was gone, and it was not for some minutes afterwards 
that Mr. Forscutt was able to realize that Frank was dead, and that it was his disembodied 
spirit with which he had been talking. 

" * Pearl, Mr, Culver's httle girl, had been sick a few days previous to this, but it was 
not yet believed by any one that she must die. 

" ' The attending physician had said nothing to indicate that she would not recover. 
As Mr. Forscutt realized what had taken place in the interview between himself and the 
father, he became convinced that the child's death was assured. He put on his hat and 
went immediately to the house of Mrs. Culver to prepare her for the worst. He called 
her aside, and said that he feared Pearl must go. Immediately the mother said : " I am 
afraid so, too, for Pearl threw up her hands this morning as she lay in bed, opened her 
eyes, and called ' Papa, papa, papa !' I believe she saw him, as she seemed unusually 
pleased." 

" ' Mr. Forscutt then told her that Frank had paid him a visit and said that he had 
called Pearl, and that she replied to him precisely as she described. 

" ' The reporter called at the house of Mrs. Culver, and learned that the circumstances 
were as Mr^ Forscutt had repeated them. It was also learned that the child and father 
were very fond of one another. Pearl was only 14 months old, but was unusually 
precocious, and the father had often spoken of the pride he should take in giving her 
superior training. This seems, in the mind of Mr. Forscutt, to account for his solicitude 
after his death. 

" ' During the day of the occurrence narrated, the child seemed much better, apparently 
happy over the recognition of her father. On that night and the succeeding days she 
began to grow worse, and died on Friday. 

" ' Mr. Forscutt is pastor of a congregation which worships under the appellation of 
Latter Day Saints in the Crystal block, at 619, "West Lake Street. He beUeves, in 
accordance with his denomination, that spirits are permitted by God to assume mortal 
shape and reveal themselves to their friends, but says this is the first experience of his in 
receiving one who had departed this life. Mr. Culver had come to be quite intimate with 
him before his death, and on that ground he accounts for his appearing before him. Mr. 
Forscutt maintains that he never had a more real experience in his life, and laughs at the 
idea that it could have been imaginary.' " 

In several parts of the United States accounts are given of the appearance 
of Spirit-pictures being photographed upon the window panes of houses ; 
the forms appearing and disappearing so suddenly that the parties 
to whom the pictures were visible had scarcely time to call in a sufficient 
number of witnesses to associate the manifestation with authentic testimony. 

About fifteen years ago the author being engaged to speak at a grove 
meeting held at Milan, Ohio, under the auspices of Hudson Tutde and the 
Spiritualists of that district, was taken with several other persons to see the 
pictures mysteriously photographed upon the window panes of a house 
rented by a person who stood high in one of the churches at Milan, and 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 537 

who was entirely opposed in belief and sentiment to Spiritualism and all its 
advocates. 

This person acknowledged that the pictures had come in the most 
mysterious and unaccountable way ; that some, that had already faded out, 
closely resembled relatives of his who — as he said — had " long been in 
their graves," whilst ihose yet remaining were recognised by scores of 
residents in the town as representing deceased parties well known by many 
who went to investigate them. 

As the proprietor of the house in question only permitted the author and 
her friends to inspect the pictures on condition that his name should not 
be reported, we feel obliged to keep faith in this respect, and merely allude 
to the fact, which will be remembered by any readers acquainted with that 
locality. Another well attested case of this kind of phenomenon was pub- 
lished in the Bafiner of Light of August, 1875, by a venerable resident 
of West Woodstock, Vermont, Mr. J. D. Powers, who says : — I 

" The demonstration took place at the house of Mr. Chaney Richardson, a farmer, now 
seventy-five years of age, and who has been a Spiritualist for a long time. It appears that 
Mr. R. had retired to his room during the daytime to rest, and while lying on the bed, 
wide awake, his attention was attracted to the white curtain on the window in his room, 
which was lowered about half way down the window. At first he noticed the gradual 
appearance on the curtain of three dark lines, some two inches apart and about six in 
length. He eagerly began to scrutinize this strange circumstance and to observe what 
followed. Soon he noticed that the spaces between the lines began to fill up and inter- 
blend, presenting a cloudy appearance, in which immediately there came the figure of a 
child in a laughing mood. Mr. Richardson arose and approached the curtain, when the 
figure disappeared, and in the same place he saw another scene, representing houses, and 
men, women and children in citizens' dress. Mr. R. considered this singular phenomenon 
too good to be enjoyed by himself alone, so he called in his neighbours as witnesses, some 
of whom could see the pictures as distinctly as he did. By invitation of my friend 
Mr. J. P. Cobb, an infidel of fifty years' standing, I rode with him to Mr. Richardson's to 
witness the unaccountable occurrence. He was quite astonished at the result, for he saw 
all that any one did ; but what surprised him most was the appearance on the curtain of 
an officer whom he had known, holding in his hand a flagstaff' and waving the flag to the 
breeze. He disappeared, and on coming again the flag was furled. Still more ; on his 
arrival home he saw on one of the curtains of his own house, and also on one in hia 
neighbour's house, pictures similar to what he had seen at Mr. Richardson's. I saw but 
two figures ; one was small featured and wore spectacles ; the other was my father's face, 
plainly daguerreotyped on the curtain 

" Another correspondent writes : ' Spirit -photography without material aid ! A new 
phase of spirit manifestation has appeared in Woodstock, Vt. Pictures representing 
men, women, and children, buildings, &c., have appeared on a window curtain. They 
come and go in the presence of spectatoi's, some of whom recognise genuine likenesses of 
deceased friends. The curtain was taken down and washed, but still the phenomenon 
would occur. Many persons have visited the house where the occurrence took place, but 
no one can account for it except as a phase of spirit power.' " 

We frequently read accounts of " the summer land " and visits to the 
bright spheres of the hereafter, as narrated by Spirit Seers and Mediums. 
These accounts are so entirely in harmony with each other, that it has been 
suggested by sceptics, that if the narrators do not actually repeat each 
other's statements, there is at least a cofitagmi of psychology which is liable 
to affect certain individuals whose minds come into relation or mental con- 
tact with each other. It is with a view of meeting and repelling this highly- 
strained hypothesis that we give place to the following narrative, furnished 
by a medical gentleman well known in the West, in relation to a family of 
wealth and respectability, whose statements speak for themselves. The 
case, after being reported in numbers of local papers, was republished in 
the Harbmger of Light, Melbourne, in 1879, ^^d is now cited as an 



538 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

independent and impartial witness for the conditions of life in the spheres of 
Spiritual existence. The narrati'/e is as follows : — 

" Mrs. Diana Powellson, widow of the late Thomas Powellson, resides seven or eight 
miles south-west of Kansas City. She is forty-one years of age, and the mother of nine 
children. Up to three years ago she had been a remarkably vigorous woman. On the 
1st of August, 1876, a premature labour induced the disease which culminated in what 
was supposed to be death. At one time, Dr. Thome, supposing his patient would soon 
die, remained with her. The symptoms were cold, clammy perspiration all over the body ; 
eyeballs thrown 'upward ; no action of the diaphragm ; she had been blind for several 
days ; things continued in this course until one o'clock in the morning, when she apparently 
died. A current of electricity passed from the base of the brain to the lower portion of 
the back failed to revive her. She did, however, finally revive, and gave this statement to 
our reporter, in company with Dr. Thorne : — 

" ' I have been a professed Christian for many years. Some time in 1877 I joined the 
Methodist Church. I am a full believer in Christianity. The statement that I am about 
to make is stranger to ma than it can be to you. 

" ' On the night I died, I was so happy at going ; felt no misery of any kind ; pain in 
the head all gone ; it seemed that I lost all consciousness but for a moment ; when I came 
to my senses again I knew I was dead, but everything was very dark to me. I thought I 
was still blind. I became filled~with terror, anticipating the worst. My husband (who 
died a short time ago) soon, however, took hold of me. Others of my departed friends 
and family did the same. The darkness suddenly vanished. I saw all my friends and 
millions of others. I saw hills and valleys, trees and flowers, rivers, seas, lakes and birds, 
and heard such music as I cannot describe. The people were not what I expected to see. 
They were ordinary men and women. Some were bright and beautifiil, and others were 
lean and miserable looking. I saw their homes. They lived in communities. AU were 
much more beautiful than any we have, but some were not so beautiful as others. I saw 
many bright spirits, but was very much surprised that they had no wings. My friends led 
me from the dark place into the light. I did not come through this dark place any more, 
either in coming back or returning at any time. I saw many meetings or congregations, 
but did not learn what they were doing. I was told that I must return to my body again. 
My husband told me this. I cried and was very much angered at him and still am for 
sending me back. 1 long to be in that beautiful home that they told me was mine. My 
husband sent a message to his son and to my children by me. 

" ' Messages were also sent by many others. I was afraid of some spirits, who looked 
dark and forbidding, while others were bright, beautiful, and kind. When I was there 
a large concourse gathered around me. I did not know I should return to earth till I was 
told so by my husband. He was sixty-seven when he died, though he now looks in the 
prime of life. My two children were with their father. I was very much surprised at this ; 
I had known only one ; one child was born dead, prematurely, in August, 1876 ; it was 
quite rejoiced to see me. I cannot compare it to any age, it differs from earth, but is still a 
small child. I felt all a mother's love for that child, which I did not think I possessed. 
My boy, one year old, died fifteen years ago ; he is now a young man and knew me. 

" ' Spirits do not sing like we do ; much nicer. The clothing of all was of the flowing 
or robe kind. No voice is used by spirits. I understood them more perfectly without 
words. I read their thoughts ; it is more perfect language than ours. They told me to 
come back to earth for three or four years with my Httle children who are here. I 
promised to do so. I expected to meet Christ, but did not do so. They told me that 
this was why I was in the dark. I know now that I must depend upon myself. We are 
over there as we are here, We make our own happiness. I did not find any heaven or 
hell, only life, more perfect and beautiful than this. This is not life at all. What I now 
relate is as clear to my memory as anything in life can be. 

" ' In dying, I did not lose consciousness. I seemed to fade from one life into another. 
I now often see spirits around me, but cannot speak to them or they to me. They show 
me flowers which are more beautiful than ours. Spirits told me that they had to repent 
of their sins over there before they could advance. Till they did this they were unhappy. 
I was much surprised when I first went there at seeing a spirit which I took to be God, 
and I afterwards supposed it was Jesus Christ, but who was only a bright spirit teaching 
the others. I saw many such afterwards ; they don't seem to belong to the rest at all. 
Everybody is engaged in learning and growing brighter, so they told me ' 

"The facts and particulars of this strange death were verified by the people of 
Eosedale generally. More particularly was the account substantiated by Mrs. Kittle 
Powellson, sister-in-law to the lady, and Miss E. Powellson, the daughter ; Mrs. John 
Haddock, Mrs. Jas. Wilson, Mrs. Callenburgher, Mr. Baird, practising physician in 
Rosedale, and many others who have been constantly attending her. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



539 



" Dr. Thorne called in consultation Dr. Halley, of Kansas City, who made a thorough 
investigation of the case. 

" Philadelphia, Pa., July 9, 1879." 

Amongst the locally-celebrated Mediums of America is a family of 
children residing at Chicago where their manifestations, although given in 
the privacy of a plain domestic circle, and without the slightest desire for 
display, have yet attracted hundreds of curious and sceptical investigators, 
not one of whom has ever made the least suggestion of fraud or failed to 
bear testimony to the apparent truthfulness of all parties concerned. The 
following account of this Mediumistic household, now celebrated as " the 
Bangs children," is printed in the Religio Philosophical Jouriial^ of 1871, 
with these editorial remarks. 

" We have on three occasions been invited to witness the wonderful physical mani- 
festations of departed spirits in the presence of the Bangs children. These manifestations 
take place in a fully lighted room, and yet musical instruments have to be enclosed in a 
box or dark room, in order to enable spirits to play upon them. This family all seem to 
be mediximistic, but two little girls, aged respectively eleven and seven years, are con- 
sidered the best mediums. The manifestations were so varied in our presence, that we 
can give but a faint outline of them in this article. A long, heavy, extension dining- 
table is brought out, and an ordinary table cloth is spread over it. The family are seated 
along on one side, and as many as is convenient fill up the cii-cle around the table, 
excepting a space of about three feet between two of the children, which is left vacant. 
In this vacancy is placed a chair. The audience who may be present are seated around 
the room. It is then quite usual for some one of the family to ask a little spu-it — son of 
the Bangs parents — if all is right. This little son passed to spirit-life when only fourteen 
months old, but is now plainly seen and talked with by the other children. In response 
to that inquiry, an affirmative or negative answer is given by a certain number of raps or 
tips of the table, or by the tipping of the vacant chair above referred to. If the answer 
be in the negative, one of the children puts a slate under the table, upon which a pencil 
is laid. Immediately the sound of writing is heard on the slate, and yet the hand of the 
child and the slate where she holds it is in plain sight. As soon as the sound of writing 
ceases, the slate is placed on the table, and thereon is found, in plain English, such cor- 
rections as are required to be made in the circle to improve conditions for better mani- 
festations. Sometimes,' some one plays the piano ; then the chair above referred to, dances 
(apparently with delight) keeping time to the music without anything or any one 
touching it. The table, also, often hops and skips about hke an intelligent being, keep- 
ing time with delight to the music. The children are also clairaudicnt. They hear the 
spirits talk, and give what they say to the members of the stance, whereupon the spirits 
in return give their assent to the truth thereof by raps on the table, or by forcibly 
tipping the vacant chair. This chair seems to answer a very important purpose. It is 
always ready to respond to any one's inquiries when requested. For instance, one di- 
recting an inquiry to the chair, says. Chair, is John Smith (or some less noted character) 
present ? The chair immediately responds by one, two, or three emphatic tips, which 
are understood to mean respectively, no — I don't know — yes. One wants to have a spirit 
friend write something on the slate, whereupon one of the little girls holds the slate under 
the table, as before described, or on the top of her head. Immediately the pencil is 
heard writing, and as soon as the sound ceases, she takes down the slate, and the inquirer 
finds a short message to him or her, and sometimes, as is claimed, in the fac simile hand- 
writing of the deceased person while in this hfe. In all these cases, as hundreds of 
sceptics can testify, the writing is done without the touch of any mortal hand. 

" A little box is fitted up, and a number of musical instruments are placed in the 
same. One of the little gkls will sit by the side of the box, with one hand inserted 
through ahttle hole, only to the wrist joint, all in plain sight of the audience. Then the 
musical instruments will be played, several at a time, keeping time with a piano played in 
the room. Dancing will also be heard, &c., &c. Hands are often presented at a little 
diamond shaped hole in the box, moving things which have been deposited in the box. 
These last manifestations are most perfect when a Httle seven year old girl is tied fast and 
placed inside of the box. 

" Another most int^eresting phase is also witnessed. While you are looking right at one 
of these little girls, you will hear her cry out, ' oh !' in a child-like voice, as if she were 
hurt. She wiU push up her sleeve, and there will be found plain and deep indentations 



540 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

in the muscle of the arm of a set of children's teeth — upper and lower — indeed, in some 
iustances, almost drawing blood. She will slip down her sleeve, and no sooner down than 
she cries out again as before, and again slips up her sleeve, and other indentations similar 
to the first are to be seen, and this will be repeated for a half-dozen times or more, while 
you are looking right at her all the time. She says it feels exactly as if she was being bit 
by a child, and, indeed, the arm presents that appearance. 

" We might go on and recite the varied manifestations which are daily astonishing the 
beholders, in the presence of these children, would space admit it. We will content our- 
selves, for the present, by giving the following narrative, written for this paper, by Mrs. 
Bangs, the mother of the children, under the approval of Mr. Bangs, their father. — 

'■ MHS. bang's report. 

" I will commence by saying that up to September 30th, 1874, none of our family had 
ever seen any spirit manifestations, and were not thinking about them. All at once, on 
September 30th, about five o'clock in the evening, bard coal was thrown in at the door. 
I thought it to be the neighbours' children, and requested them to stop. They answered 
that they had not thrown any coal ; but of course I did not believe them, and closed the 
door. 

" The kitchen window was dropped about six inches at the top, and after I closed the 
door, coal commenced to come in at the top of the window. When my husband, Mr. 
Bangs, came home to supper, about seven o'clock in the evening, I told him the children 
had been throwing coal into the house. While he was at supper the coal kept coming in 
all the time. After supper Mr. Bangs went out around the house and concealed himself, 
with the expectation that he could find out who it was that threw the coal, but failed to 
see any one, but he could see the coal pass in at the window, and hear it fall on the floor. 
It was a pleasant evening, and the moon shone very bright. li there had been any one 
near by he would have seen them. Mr. Bangs then came into the house and shut the 
window. Several pieces fell in the room after that. The next morning, about seven 
o'clock, coal commenced to come in at the pantry window on the other side of the house, 
and next it came into the dining-room. From seven to eleven o'clock nearly a peck was 
thrown in. We were not disturbed during meal hours, nor after eight o'clock in the 
evening. Coal continued to come in for four days. It made no difference whether 
the windows and doors were open or not. One large piece was dropped in the front 
room, weighing eight to ten pounds, when all the doors and windows were closed. 
Several other large pieces were brought in and scattered in different places. Several 
of the neighbours were called in and can testify to the truth of this statement. They 
said it was some evil spirit that had got into the house. 

" The next day, chairs and other articles of furniture were piled up together in plain 
view in a moment, and then returned to their places again. Dishes were put on the 
children's heads. A brick, and a tumbler full of water, was placed on the head of one of 
the girls several times. Nearly every dish and small ai-ticle in the house was jDut on their 
heads, and kept me busy all day taking them off. 

" When evening came, they took the ribbon off the eldest girl's head, and tied her fast 
to the chair with it, and did many other things. They tipped the chair she was sitting in. 
I had the impression to give her a piece of paper and pencil, and I asked the question, 
who it was making those demonstrations. Immediately they controlled one of the girl's 
hands, and wrote, ' good spirit' — the girl not having any control of her hands. In a day 
or two after that, she saw the spirit of Mr. Bangs' sister, and described her form and 
features perfectly. She never saw her in life. The spirit spoke in an audible voice several 
times, calling Mr. Bangs, ' Brother Edward, brother Edward ! ' one time when the children 
were not in the house, at another time when the children were asleep in bed. 

" The lamp was trimmed every day, for two weeks, by spirit hands, the wick being cut 
each time. Dishes were washed, knives were scoured by them in a few moments, and 
beds were made. The pantry floor was washed, and another floor was swept. One day 
while the eldest girl, Elizabeth, was ironing one part of a garment, a spirit took another 
iron and ironed the other part and helped until all the clothes were ironed. I saw the iron 
move about on the cloth, but could not see the spirit. Presents were brought for the 
girls, and carried into the schoolroom and given to them. They had each a new circular 
comb and neck ribbon given to them in the schoolroom. The combs were put in their 
hair and the ribbons tied around their necks. They did not know anything about it till 
some of the scholars asked them where they got their new combs and ribbons. 

" The spuit wrote through our daughter Elizabeth's hand, that she wanted our family 
to hold a circle every evening for development. We did so. The first evening, they 
tipped the table, and telegraphed by raps, our daughter hearing the voice of the spirit at 
the same time, giving directions what they wanted us to do next. We sang, and they 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 541 

kept time to the music, by raps and dancing on the floor. We' heard the sound of their 
feet plainly. That evening the children saw other spirits of our departed friends. Among 
them was our little boy, who passed away when only foui-teen months old. Since that 
time he seems to be constantly with us. He has dra\vn pictirres on paper and on the 
slate, and writes on the slate without the aid of natural hands, giving very intelligent 
communications. One evening, while all the family were sitting at the sujDper table, with 
a full Hght, our little girl Mary had her dress changed in a few moments by spirit power. 
We are all positive she did not move from her chair during the meal, and yet her dress 
was changed, and the dress they took off from her was carried and hung up, in her room. 
Quite often the girls have had their dresses thus changed, and their hair* curled before our 
eyes ; that is, we could see that their clothes were changed, and their hair curled, but 
could not see any one doing it, but we do know the girls did not do it. The spirits have 
bought toys and other useful articles, and brought them into the house. They use then- 
ovra money. Several times they have given the children small pieces of silver money and 
currency. I said to the spii'its one day, that I wished them to put a piece of money on 
the girl's head, if they could. I kept looking at her all the time. In a few moments 
they put twenty-five cents on her head. I know she did not have any money about her, 
and could not have put it there while I was watching. One day I put an apron in a 
biu-eau di-awer, and locked the drawer. In a few moments the same article was thrown 
out from a little cabinet or box in another part of the sitting-room. 1 put it back in the 
bureau drawer, and locked it in the drawer three times in succession, with the same result. 
The spirits have written many times on a slate placed on the girl's head, without using 
any visible pencil, or anything but their own hands. Some of the best communications 
that we have had, have been written on the slate, as it lay on the head of the medium. 
There are many other manifestations of a startling nature which I omit to mention. 

" This article being already longer than I thought it would be when I commenced it, in 
conclusion I will say that we have a large band of spirits with us all the time —some of 
them our near relations, who seem ever ready to manifest their presence. They say all 
our family are mediums. I will give the names and ages of the children. Elizabeth is 
eleven ; Mary is eight ; WiUiam is six ; and Edward is fourteen years of age. 

" Chicago, March 10th. Mrs. M. L. Bangs." 

The author would scarcely have ventured to print a narrative so full of 
almost incredible com)no?iplaces, were it not that several persons of 
undoubted credit have testified to being present in Mrs. Bang's house 
when invisible servitors laid the dinner table, and brought in one after 
another the articles necessary for the meals, whilst the witnesses sat by and 
watched the proceedings in the full light of day. 

As in many other instances on record, a large number of residents of 
Chicago who have visited this wonderful family as mere acquaintances, affirm, 
that the spontaneous demonstrations, occurring in the routine of private 
family life, are far more wonderful than any which can be obtained in 
circles, or through processes of invocation. This is a phase of phenomenal 
power testified to by all who have had the privilege of visiting Mediumistic 
persons in their own homes. 

The act of waiting in expectancy of phenomena, although it is most 
generally responded to by the kind guardian spirits of circles, seems to be less 
favourable to the production of demonstrations, than the totally unprepared 
conditions which the routine of busy home life furnishes. Mrs. Coleman, 
an authoress of repute from Massachusetts, who made a quiet visit to the 
Bangs family, under a pretext of a slight business nature, reported that in 
one week's occasional visitation in that family, she saw more wonders 
spontaneously performed than she could dare to pubUsh, and far more than 
any related of the circles wherein phenomena were anticipated. These 
statements should be remembered, as they tally closely with the experiences 
of all other cautious investigators in the modern Spiritual movement. 



I 



542 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



CHAPTER LX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AMERICA (CONTINUED), 

Spiritual Camp Meetings, 

There are two features of the American Spiritual movement both of which 
seem to have grown out of local customs until they have attained to the 
proportions of what are popularly called "American Institutions." These 
are, the anniversary celebrations of the famous " Rochester Knockings," 
taking place on or about the 31st of March, and the annual gatherings, 
called " The Spiritual Camp Meetings." The latter are generally held 
about the last of July and extend through August, and occasionally up to 
the end of September. 

The custom of holding camp meetings in woods and rural scenes has 
not originated with the Spiritualists, many religious denominations having 
instituted such assemblages long before Spiritualism was known. It would 
seem as if the rigour of the severe American winters and burning summers, 
had rendered the custom of seeking a pleasanter temperature in shady 
groves or in the vicinity of cool lakes, in the fall of the year, an absolute 
necessity with the denizens of American cities. The extreme reserve 
and caste spirit of Europeans which induces each family to go forth in its 
own exclusive circle for autumn recreation, finds but little favour in the 
democratic life of America. On the contrary, the first idea of enjoyment 
which prevails in the land of the West is that of social gatherings, and 
these have gradually grown from pleasant pic-nics or grove meetings into 
annual encampments where all the portable conveniences of city life are 
associated with the charms of rural scenery and out-of-door amusements. 

And thus it is, that these assemblages, so foreign to the spirit of European 
conservatism, and so attractive to American republicanism, have been 
adopted by the Spiritualists until their annual meetings in different sections 
of the country have far outstripped in magnitude those of any other sect or 
association in the United States. The Spiritual camp meetings also have 
become an integral part of the movement in America, and whether they 
are open to unfavourable criticism or may yet become so, certain it is, that 
at this time tens of thousands of persons sympathising with the belief in 
Spiritualism look forward every year with as much eager anticipation to 
these gatherings, and prepare to attend them with as much regularity, as 
the lower classes in England look forward to the inevitable roast beef and 
plum pudding of the Christmas festivities. In many localities, Spiritualists 
invest large sums in the purchase of land and build or rent cottages which 
they furnish for family use during the camping season, and close up for 
the rest of the year. Hotels are fitted up on the camp grounds for the 
accommodation of transient visitors, and an immense trade is carried on 
in the hire of tents which are put up ui streets, avenues, and squares in 
regular city fashion, and named after the thoroughfares of the adjacent 
towns. In some encampments all sorts of amusements are provided. 
Large halls or tents are erected for dancing, music, and various exhibitions, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, 543 

but the "auditorium" or space fitted with seats, together with a speaker's 
stand, and accommodation for a choir, form an invariable feature of every 
encampment. 

To a visitor who has never before beheld, or taken part in such a scene, 
a Spiritualistic camp meeting produces an indescribable feeling of strange- 
ness and bewilderment, which scarcely allows him to determine whether he 
is under the influence of pleasure or pain. The gatherings are so vast, the 
scenes so new, and each member of the busy crowd seems so intent on 
pursuing his own special avocation, that a sense of loneliness, even of 
desolation, such as is often experienced by strangers in thronged cities, 
almost invariably possesses the sensitive mind. Gradually, the multitude 
of objects crowding in upon view on every side, arrange themselves into 
order, and then the sight is one of endless interest and amusement. To 
a lounger passing through the various groups, some arranged in picturesque 
knots at the tent doors, others reclining beneath shady trees, or stretched 
out upon grassy knolls, the fragments of conversation that meet the ear 
are as curious and heterogenous, as the objects that appeal to the sense 
of vision. From the first peep of day, the campers are astir, lighting gipsy 
fires, preparing breakfast, and trading with the various hawkers who ply 
with their provisions regularly through the white-tented streets. After the 
morning meal, visits are exchanged, and the business of the day proceeds 
with as much energy and order as in the cities. Sailing parties, seances^ 
amusements, and business, all proceed in due course, until the hour for 
speaking arrives, when thousands assemble at the speaker's stand, to par- 
take of the solid intellectual refreshment of the day. Lectures, balls, 
parties, illuminations, public discussions, &c., &c., fill up the time until 
midnight, when the white tents enclose the slumbering hosts ; the fires and 
lamps are extinguished, and the pale moonbeam shines over rocks, groves, 
and lakes, illumining scenes as strange and picturesque as ever the eye of 
mortal gazed upon. Resembling to some extent a martial camp, but 
adorned with flowers, wreaths, and emblems of taste and beauty, instead of 
the grim paraphernalia of war, the stern sentinel with musket in hand is 
exchanged for watching angels. Instead of the savage password, " Death 
and glory," " Life eternal " is whispered in every breeze that stirs the tree 
tops, and the white tents, instead of sheltering the fever-racked forms of 
mailed victims, only waiting for the shrill cry of the bugle to marshal them 
to murder or death, shade the peaceful slumbers of those who know no 
death, and who are tenderly guarded by the glittering rank and file who 
have triumphed over the grave, and risen as immortal victors from life's 
cruel battlefields. 

Amongst those who greet you as you take your morning's walk from 
street to avenue, or linger on rocky pinnacles to contemplate the busy hive 
of life thronging below, are strangers from States a thousand miles off, and 
rieighbours from the next village. You may talk politics with a white- 
haired knot of grandsires sunning themselves on a social bench, around 
an ancient elm ; talk metaphysics with a group of lecturers assembled " from 
the four corners of the earth," hear some merry " Indian maid " pouring 
out through the lips of her entranced " medy," shrewd philosophy, mingled 
with clairvoyant tests, and comical jokes, interspersed with startling proofs 
of super-mundane intelligence. Glancing down the avenues of gaily 
decorated tents, with wreaths, banners, inscriptions, and all manner of 
fanciful devices adorning them, the visitor cannot but be struck with the 
multitude of signs which almost every habitation exhibits. The shrewd 



544 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 



practical spirit of " the Yankee," evidently knows how to combine business 
with pleasure, and turn each shining hour into profit," as well as amusenaent. 
Bookstalls abound, photographs of spirits and mortals are on sale, and 
literature is rapidly changing hands. Healing, trance, test, and physical 
Mediums, put out their signs, and ply their professional avocations as 
industriously here as at home. In a word, every one who has anything to 
say, says it here, and the " dear public " need be at no loss to find all they 
want to see, hear, purchase, or take part in, just as readily as in the midst 
of the busiest cities. The Spiritual camp meetings are in all respects such 
thoroughly practical illustrations of American life, that any visitor may 
glean more knowledge of popular institutions in a single day's ramble 
through " Lake Pleasant," than he could gain in many weeks of far and 
wide travel. As a general rule, there is a fine choir and a good band of 
music engaged for the camping season. Most commonly too, besides an 
efficient corps of officers and managers, there is a staff of police at hand, to 
ensure order. To the credit of the Spiritualists' gatherings be it said, this 
last addendum is generally a superfluity, for unless some " roughs " from the 
"world's people" gain admission, a more orderly and generally well con- 
ducted set of people cannot be found, than a gathering of Spiritualists. 
They are most commonly also total abstainers, and whatever their private 
views of morahty may be, they are never permitted, at least on the best 
ordered camp grounds — like Lake Pleasant for example — to pass obnoxious 
opinions on others, or work mischief and disorder. It must, of course, 
be understood, that there are many diverse views amongst people so hete- 
rogeneously brought together by a few generic points of agreement ; but it 
is tacitly resolved amongst them, that persons of widely different grades of 
thought shall assemble themselves in different directions, and hold 
gatherings where their special views shall be permitted free expression 
without infringing on the rights and privileges of others. Thus it is quite 
common i:o find those who hold directly opposing views, calling their 
sympathizers around them in special gatherings, whilst at the very large and 
well conducted meetings, ultra-radical or obnoxious opinions on any subject 
are not heard. 

Those who may be curious to learn what are the prevailing themes of 
discussion at these meetings will soon find that metaphysics and personal 
experiences with Mediums are on every lip. That scandals may abound, 
both in speech and manner, among such vast multitudes none can deny, 
but as far as strict regulations can prevail, no such disorders are manifest 
to the public eye or ear. The visitor is never shocked by the sound of the 
profane oath, the ribald jest, or unseemly language. Modest women may 
walk the camp at night without fear of molestation, and the impure or dis- 
honest must at least wear the mask of decent seeming before they can be 
permitted to remain. 

As an example of the wide-spread popularity to which some of these 
Spirituahstic camp meetings have attained, the author may cite her own 
experience when engaged as a speaker at Lake Pleasant, in Montague, 
Mass., and at Neshaminy Falls, Pennsylvania, in 1880. At the first of these 
gatherings Mrs. Hardinge Britten addressed an almost breathlessly atten- 
tive audience of nearly eighteen thousand persons, and at the second there 
were twenty thousand people on the ground, many of whom, of course, 
could not approach near enough to the auditorium to hear the speaker. 

The usual number of stationary campers at Lake Pleasant, Neshaminy 
Falls, and other of the largest gatherings, varies from one to ten thousand 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 545 

persons. The officers in charge make arrangements with the railroad 
companies to bring passengers at reduced rates, and on Sundays and 
special excursion days the visitors often amount to twenty thousand per- 
sons. Meantime, refreshments are provided, and when it is remembered 
that means of entertainment both mental and physical are arranged in 
due proportion for such vast assemblages, and that the most perfect order, 
harmony, and goodwill invariably prevail, too much credit cannot be given 
to the managers and the denomination that can attract, and successfully 
conduct, such meetings. 

As Lake Pleasant camp meeting is now the oldest, and, on a general 
average, the largest of these gatherings, we shall continue our description, 
by giving some extracts from the managers' circular put forth by the Lake 
Pleasant Camp Meeting Association, in 1880 : — 

" NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS. 
" De. Joseph Beals, President. 

" Lake Pleasant is situated in the town of Montague, Mass., on the Hoosac Tunnel 
Line, six miles south-east of Greenfield, and midway between Troy and Boston. Its 
attractions are manifold — embracing every variety of inland scenery — everything possible 
for the comfort and convenience of visitors, and ample facilities for amusement and 
recreation. The lake is a beautiful sheet of about one hundred and eight acres, an.! is 
within a mile of another lake of sixty acres. Bath houses are located at convenient jjoints 
on the shore, a commodious wharf lies near the foot of the stairs leading to the grove 
from the railroad station, and a flotilla of boats is always in readiness to take out pleasure 
or fishing parties. An elegant Pavilion stands on an elevated plateau overlooking the 
grove on the one side, and the railroad station on the othei-, accessible from each by easy 
flights of stairs. The dancing assemblies held here each week-day afternoon and evening 
during the camjD meeting, are conducted with the utmost order and decorum, and have 
become exceedingly popular 

"August, 1880." 

Under the head of 

ARRANGEMENTS FOR 1880. 

The management print a long list of the various railroad companies — 
whose lines run over thousands of miles — that are prepared to carry pas- 
sengers to and from the camp at half-fares, together with directions for 
bringing camp equipage, and the following curious, because eminently 
practical 

"items op interest." 

"The Grocery Store this season wUl keep a large line of good.s of the best quality, in- 
cluding tin ware, crockery, fruits, vegetables, etc., which will be sold at regular market 
prices. No peddling of any kind will be allowed on the grounds, except by permission 
from the Committee. Table board, .$4 per week ; dinners, 50 cents. A large stock of Ice 
was stored on the grounds last winter, and will be sold to campers at reasonable rates. 
All Campers are requested to register at the Secretarj^'s Tent on their arrival. Parties 
driving to the Lake will find ample provisions for their teams. Lodyings. — Parties will be 
prepared to furnish lodgings in tents or cottages at 25 and 50 cents per night. Cot beds, 
mattresses and blankets can be hired on the grounds. The Post Ofiice and Telegraph 
Office will be opened on the 4th of August. Fish, lobsters, oysters, etc., \\\\\ be received 
fresh, daily, and will be sold at lowest prices. Meats and poultry will be brought on the 
ground every morning by Montague and Turners Falls dealers, and fresh vegetables, 
berries, milk, etc., by the farmers of the surrounding country." 

Then follows an order of musical exercises, including the times of 
performance for the Fitchburgh Military Band (one of the best in the 
country, by the way), and the vocal exercises of the Grattan Smith Family 
35 



5 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

a charming and accomplished choir of vocalists, whose entertainments in 
themselves are sufficient to command large and appreciative audiences. 

The following plan of speakers may not be uninteresting for future 
reference : — 

" The first regular exercises will be held on Sunday, August 8. Speakers — Captain 
H. H. Brown and E. V. Wilson ; Tuesday, August 10, Mrs. Lizzie Manchester, Inspira- 
tional Singer, Randolph, Vt. ; Wednesday, August 11, Giles B. Stebbins, Detroit, Mich. ; 
Thursday, August 12, Mrs. E. S. Watson, Titusville, Pa. ; Friday, August 13, Mr. E. A. 
Stanley, Leicester, Vt. ; Saturday, August 14, Bishop A. Beals, Versailles, N.Y. ; Sunday, 
August 15, Mrs. E. S. Watson and Cephas B. Lynn ; Tuesday, August 17, Louis Ransom, 
Stratford, N.Y. ; Wednesday, August 18, Rev. J. H. Barter, Auburn, N.Y., and Elder 
Evans, Mt. Lebanon, N.Y. ; Thursday, August 19, Mrs. N. J. T. Brigham, and Professor 
Henry Kiddle, New York City ; Friday, August 20, Dr. Anna M. Middlebrook, Bridge- 
port, Ct. ; Saturday, August 21, Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten ; Sunday, August 22, 
Ed. S. Wheeler and Emma Hardinge Britten ; Tuesday, August 24, C. Fanny Allyn, 
Stoneham, Mass. ; Wednesday, August 25, Ed. S. Wheeler, Philadelphia, Pa., and Mrs. 
R. Shepard, Washington, D.C. ; Thursday, August 26, W. J. ColvHle, Boston, Mass., and 
Rev. Samuel Watson ; Friday, August 27, Mrs. Sarah Byrnes ; Saturday, August 28, 
Professor WilKam Denton ; Sunday, August 29, Dr. J. M. Peebles, and Professor William 
Denton. 

" Some of the best Mediums in the country will be present, and the phenomenal phases 
of the Spiritual Gospel will be invited to fuU manifestations through circles and stances." 

To this list should be added the following names of the officers for i88o : 

" President : Dr. Joseph Beals, Greenfield, Mass. Vice-Presidents : M. V. Lincoln, 
Dr. H. H. Brigham, and Mrs. M. A. Lyman. Clerk : J. H. Smith, Springfield, Mass. 
Treasurer : Wm. C. Bryant, Greenfield, Mass. Directors : Dr. Joseph Beals, M. H. 
Fletcher, D. B. Gerry, W. H. Gilmore, Harvey Lyman, J. S. Hart, A. BuUens, and W. F. 
D. Perkins. Committee on Grounds and Tents : N. S. Henry, Chairman, Montague, 
Mass ; W. F. D. Perkins, and John Patterson. On Transportation : J. H. Smith, D. B. 
Gerry, and Dr. E. A. Smith. On Speakers : Dr. Joseph Beals, Dr. N. D. Ross, and Mrs. 
M. A. Lyman. On Police, Lights, and Sanitary Regulations : J. S. Hart, P. H. Babbitt, 
and T. T. Greenwood. On Renting Privileges : T. W. Coburn, W. H. Gilmore, and M. 
H. Fletcher. On Music and Dancing : Dr. Joseph Beals, J. H. Smith, and A. BuUens." 

The following summary of one week's exercises at "Lake Pleasant" 
may also prove acceptable, especially as it represents fairly the ordinary 
routine of camp life pursued at this favourite place of resort. 

The notes are taken from the report of the Banner of Light for August 
28, 1880. 

" LAKE PLEASANT CAMP MEETING. 

" This busy little city among the pines is the scene of constant and varied attractions. 
The great congregation of Sunday dispersed in an orderly manner, and left the campers 
to enjoy a quiet Sunday evening. The addresses of the day were discussed, private 
seances were held, and fraternal calls were made among the occupants of the camp. 
Following is the record of the week ending August 22nd : — 

" Monday. — The officers and board of directors were elected for the ensuing year. In 
the evening, Lizzie J. Thompson, of Boston, gave a reading to a select and appreciative 
audience. 

" Tuesday. — Louis Ranson, of Troy, N. Y., delivered the ^regular address. He chose 
for his theme : "Christianity as a Force in Civilisation." At 3-30 p.m. Jennie B. Hagan's 
friends convened in the hall and were well entertained. Miss Hagau improvised with 
her accustomed ability. In the evening the Grattan Smith family held a concert, which 
was largely attended. 

" Wednesday. — The Shakers were present in force, and conducted the exercises both 
morning and afternoon. Elder Evans, Elderess Doolittle, and other members of the 
party spoke. The singing was a novel portion of the exercises. Elder Evans is a radical 
speaker, and some of his remarks were loudly applauded. The audiences were very large 
during the day. Charles SulHvan's entertainment in the evening was very successful. 
The hall was crowded, and Mr, Sullivan was in good 'form.' He was enthusiastically 
received, 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 547 

" Thursday. — Rev. J. H. Barter, of New York, delivered the regular address of the 
forenoon session. His wife read a lengthy poem (original) on 'True Religion.' Mr. 
Harter then proceeded with his sermon. He said substantially : — ■' I was once a member 
of the Dutch Reformed Church ; then I changed to the Methodist ; then I moved forward 
to the Universalist ; my last jump was into SpirituaUsm. I sing hosannas of praise for 
Spiritualism. It is a glorious religion. I shall preach a sermon on "Coming, Doing and 
Going." ' In the afternoon the Regular Address was prefaced by some remarks from that 
veteran Camp-Meeting- worker, Dr. A. H. Richardson, who was cordially welcomed by the 
audience. Dr. H. B. Storer, the well-known lecturer, who has officiated in such an 
acceptable manner at the Onset Bay meetings this summer, was next introduced by 
President Beals. As Dr. Storer advanced to the front of the platform a storm of applause 
greeted him. He spoke substantially as follows :— ' I thank you, my dear friends, for your 
cordial greeting. I have just left Onset Bay, where we have had the baptism of the spirit. 
We all rejoice at your success here. May our meetings increase. One spirit animates us 
all ; one impulse moves \is onward. It is a high honour to be an humble worker in this 
great movement. Our veteran workers leave us : E. V. Wilson has gone. Blessed 
thought, however, that our sainted and heroic dead are still in sympathy with us. They 
insjiire us ; they lead us on to noble works.' Mi's. Nellie J. T. Brigham, of New York 
City, delivered the regular addi-ess. Her topic was, ' One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.' 

" Friday. — Rev. J. H. Harter of New York, spoke in the forenoon, continuing his 
former address : — The Regular Address was delivered at 1.45 p.m., by Dr. Anna M. Mid- 
dlebrook-Twiss, of Manchester, N. H. Her theme was 'Fact and Philosophy.' 

" Saturday. — Capt. H. H. ]3rown spoke by special request in the forenoon. The dis- 
course was preceded by a song from Mrs. Mason and daughter and Chas. W. Sullivan. 
Capt. Brown's topic was ' The Mission of America, or the Place of Spiritualism in History.' 
In the afternoon at 1.45 p.m., Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten delivered a splendid address 
on 'The New Bible.' Mrs. Britten is a speaker of world-wide celebrity. Her discourses 
are grand and lucid, delivered with dramatic fire, and reflect credit upon the cause of 
Spiritualism. She was attentively listened to and loudly applauded. 

" Sunday, Aug. 22nd. — There never was a fairer day than this. At an early hour 
crowds began to enter the camp gi'ound. The excursion trains were larger than ever 
before. It was an interesting sight to witness the arrival of the constantly incoming host. 
At 9-30 the Fitchburg Baud began a very fine concert. The vast amphitheatre was well 
filled witli an appreciative audience. In the afternoon Mrs. Emma Hardinge-Bi'itten was 
greeted by an immense audience, which she held spellbound, as in a stately and impressive 
manner she replied to Joseph Cook's recent coarse imputations upon Spiritualists. This 
discourse \\ill soon be issued in tract form, hence the writer will not attempt to give a 
digest here. Suffice it to say that the eminent and able defender of Spiritualism, 
Mrs. Emma Hardinge-Britten, who honours any cause by her advocacy of it, subjected 
Joseph Cook to a scorching criticism and answered in a lucid manner the current objections 
to Spirituahsm. The lecturer was congratulated by thousands at the conclusion of 
her address. 

"Monday, Aug. 23rd. — At 1.30 p.m. a memorial service was held in honour of 
E. V. Wilson, the veteran lecturer, who passed to spirit-life Aug. 8th. The grand stand 
was beautifully decorated, and a very large audience convened to hsten to the speeches. 
President Beals said : ' We have met to hold a memorial service to our dear brother, 
E. V. Wilson, who has gone to the spirit-land. He was a brave and noble worker. Let 
us show our respect for him to-day.' Capt. H. H. Brown was the first speaker. He paid 
an eloquent tribute to the memory of Mr. Wilson. Ed. S. Wheeler followed in a touching 
speech, filled with reminiscences of personal relations ^^ith IMr. Wilson. He also made a 
very forcible plea for practical work in direction of Hquidating the indebtedness upon the 
home of Mr. Wilson's family. Mrs. Emma Hardinge-Britten made the closing speech, 
which was one of great power. She asked the question. What does death do to us ? and 
proceeded to argue that death transfigured us ; that the noble warrior in whose honour 
the meeting was held had been transfigured since the episode of death, which was, in 
reality, his spiritual birth. The speaker in closing adverted to the question of assisting 
the wife and children of Bro. Wilson, and directed President Beals to put her name down 
as the first one to purchase E. V, Wilson's book : ' The Truths of Spiritualism.' 

" Cephas."* 

Having rendered all the justice our space will permit to the colossal 
camp meeting of the present day, we must follow with j ust at least a few 

* Cephas B. Lynn, a young and highly-inspired speaker, writer, and thinker. Cephas Lynn's 
addi-esses are amongst the briglitest, most original, and scholarly that can be heard on the American 
Spiritual rostrum, and his admirable reports for the Banner of Light contribute largely to its popularity. 



548 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

extracts from the Religio Philosophical Journal of August 28th, 1880, 
touching the " Neshaminy Falls Camp Meeting,"a much younger organization 
than that of " Lake Pleasant," but one which in point of numbers seems likely 
to rival the immense gatherings of Massachusetts. Neshaminy Falls is a 
beautiful place about ten or twelve miles from Philadephia, and its attrac- 
tions and methods of management may be gathered from the following 
stirring remarks : — 

CAMP MEETING OF THE FIRST ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS OF 
PHILADELPHIA, AT NESHAMINY FALLS GROVE. 

"There were, as I have informed you, some ten or twelve thousand persons at 
Neshaminy Falls Grove on Saturday, August 1st, and, in consequence, Monday was a day 

of quiet and repose there 

" On the day to which we refer, there was some dancing by the regular citizens of 
the camp in the pavilion, our orchestra always being ready to discourse sweet music, 
whenever the lads and lasses wish "to trip the light fantastic toe." which is pretty 
often. By the way, these small social parties, among acquaintances, are fast becoming 

very enjoyable 

" On Tuesday, Mrs. Shepard, ever ready to gratify those seeking for truth and instruc- 
tion, answered questions from an audience gathered in the pavilion, the weather being 
unfavourable. In the afternoon H. H. Brown discoursed upon the text : " He went up 
into the mount of Olivet," etc. The lecture was considered an excellent essay by those 

who heard the same 

" On Thursday, August 5th, Mrs, R. Shephard spoke in the forenoon, in answer to 
interrogations from her hearers. In the afternoon, Mrs. Emma Hardiuge-Britten, so long 
and extensively known among Spiritualists all over the world, was the speaker announced, 
and she came duly from the scene of her present labors in the city of New York. 

" In order to encroach as little as jDossible upon the time of so busy a person as Mrs. 
Britten ever is, the committee had engaged her to speak on consecutive days. And so 
it came about, that on Friday, August 6th, Mrs. Britten spoke again. To attempt a 
report in half-a-dozen lines, would be but an impertinence deserving resentment. It is 
better to say the two lectures of Mrs. Britten gave great satisfaction, being grandly 
instructive, and only made all concerned the more regret the accident, which prevented us 
from placing her before our great Sunday audiences. The ensuing Saturday was one of 
our quiet days, such as have been described before, but the camp gradually filled, until 
every nook was occupied and new comers were quartered among hospitable friends and 
accommodating strangers for miles around. 

" But Sunday, August 8th, was not a quiet day. The morning dawned brilliantly. 
The speakers were A. B. French, of Clyde, Ohio ; Samuel Watson, of Memphis, Tenn. ; 
and Mrs. R. Shepard. By arrangement with the railroad company several extra trains 
were secured, and, warned by the immense throng of the last Sunday, other enlarged 
accommodations were provided. Early in the morning the people began to gather, and 
by the time for opening the meeting for the forenoon the camp had more people than at 
the same time on the Sunday previous. 

" A. B. French spoke to a magnificent audience upon the subject, ' What of Death, 
and what of our Dead ?' 

" Long before the time for the Rev. Samuel Watson to speak, it was seen that the 
audience, as on the last Sunday, must be divided. Two meetings were arranged, but 
three were needed, as on the former Sunday, but there were not so many speakers at hand 
competent for such crowds, and in the evening a fine audience heard Mrs. Shepard once 
more upon 'Woman and her relation to Spiritualism.' Last Sunday there were one 
thousand or more carriages came to this ground — this Sunday the gatekeepers told me 
they passed over fifteen hundred teams, some of them four-in-hand. There were many 
more cars, and all, as I am informed, came full. There was ' a great company which no 
man could number," but order and peaceful enjoyment reigned supreme, without an 
accident to mar the occasion at Neshaminy." 

Lake Pleasant and Neshaminy must suffice to inform our readers of what 
Spiritualistic camp meetings are like, and what Spiritualists do and talk 
about when they go into camp. There are multitudes of similar gatherings ; 
some less it is true in numbers, but not very much less. Let the following 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 549 

list of such gatherings, selected like the above extracts, from the Banner^ 
and the Religio Philosophical Journal^ of August, 1 880, speak for themselves. 

" Cape Cod Camp Meeting. [By H. B. S.]* The charm of a delightful summer 
lingers in the groves and over the odorous fields basking in the sunlight. The air is 
vocal with the twitter of birds and hum of insects, and a morning walk over the hills 
seems a fit preparatioii for that natural worship which we hope to enjoy in larger measure 
by the aid of this first Sunday's exercises at the camp. The dead leaves have been swept 
away, the speakers' stand newly painted, and the seats, all comfortably backed, await the 
coming audience. After the deluging rain of Saturday, the sandy roads of the Cape are 
comparatively hard, and on foot and by vehicles of all sorts, the good people stream to- 
ward the camp. Baggage is unloaded, and soon the semi-circle of cottages are occupied 
by their annual tenants, who greatly enjoy their social reunions under the trees." 

" Lilt Dale Camp Meeting. — The sessions of this Camp Meeting have been productive 
of great good in the western portion of the State of New York. The principal speakers 
have been Mrs. Stearns, Lyman C. Howe, C. Fannie Allyn, Prof. Wm. Denton, Judge 
McCormick, and \Y. J. Colville. With this array of talent tJae meetings have been well 
sustained twice daily. In addition to the regular exercises, every evening has been profit- 
ably employed, either by a scientific lecture or a concert. Prof. Denton's geological 
course has been intensely interesting and instructive, and Mr. James G. Clarke's ballad 
concerts have been a veiy pleasing feature." 

" Buswell's Grove, Me. — Mrs. Mattie E. Hull writes : — ' Extensive preparations are 
going on for the prospective camp-meeting in Buswell's Grove, commencing the 8th of 
September. In all probability it will be the largest gathering of Sjiiritualists ever con- 
vened in the State. The committee have engaged the services of J. Frank Baxter, Dr. 
H. P. Fairfield, Moses Hull, and the writer.' " 

" Notes from Onset Bat. — Our camp meeting has had another week of uninterrupted 
success, save by the very dry weather. The meetings during the past week have been 
largely attended by an eai-nestand thinking people, who are ready for the bread of life. 
Saturday, W. J. Colville, of Boston, occupied the platform in the afternoon, while your 
correspondent, with the rest of the Committee on Entertainments, was busy in caring for 
the parties arriving in large numbers to spend Sunday at the grove. Sunday, August 
6th, opened clear and dry, and with, by far, the largest number of people at the grove that 
ever stayed over night at one time. The trains from Boston and New Bedford on the 
north, and the trains from Proviucetown and Oak Blufis on the south, with the steamer 
Monohanset from New Bedford, aU came loaded, swelling the numbers to nearly 7,000. 
Mrs. Sarah A. Byrnes, of Boston, spoke at 10.30 a.m., subject, ' The Practicality of 
Spiritualism.' " 

" Lake Champlain Spiritualist Camp-Meetino. — To be held at Queen City Park, 
Burlington, Vt., under the auspices of the Forest City Park Association. Commencing 
August 21st, and continuing until September 11th, 1882." 

" SuNAPEE Lake Spiritualist Camp-Meeting. — The Spiritualists of New Hampshire 
will hold their fifth annual camp-meeting at Blodgett's Landing, Newbury, N. H., com- 
mencing September 8th and closing SejDtember 25th." 

" Michigan Camp-Meeting. — There will be a grand camp-meeting at Lan-sing, on the 
Central Michigan Fair Ground, commencing August 25th and closing September 4th, 
held under the auspices of the State Association of Spiritualists and Liberalists of 
Michigan." 

" A Liberal League Convention and Spiritualist and Secular Camp-Meetinq, — 
Will be held at Tama, Tama County, Iowa, September 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th." 

" The Annual State Camp Meeting of the Kansas Liberal Union will begin on Sun- 
day, Aug. 27th, and continue till and close on Sept. 4th, 1882, at Bismarck Grove, 
Lawrence, Kansas.— Annie L. Diggs, Secretary." 

" Camp Meeting at Etna, Me. — The Spiritualists of Eastern Maine will hold their 
Annual Camp-Meeting at Etna, Penobscot Co., in Daniel Buswell's Grove, commencing 
August 25th, and continuing ten days, ending Sunday, Sept. 3rd, 1882. Dr. H. B. Storer, 
J. Frank Baxter, Miss Jennie B. Hagan and others are expected." 

" The Adjourned Meeting (being the first annual) of the Fourth District Spiritual- 
Liberal Association, will be held on Orion Park Island, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 26th 
and 27th. — Mrs. F. E. Odell, Secretary, Farmer's Creek, Mich." 

* Dr. Stoi-er, of Boston, 



550 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

"Gkove Meeting. — The Spiritualists of Paulding County, 0., and vicinity, will hold 
their Annual Grove-Meeting in Daniel Wentworth's Grove, north of Antwerp, on the 19th 
and 20th of August. — R. B. Champion, Secretary." 

"The Niantic (Ct.) Camp Meeting. — The grounds will be open on and after June 12, 
1882. The regular Camp Meeting will commence with public speaking, July 12, 1882, 
and will continue until August 20th." 

'' Spiritualist Camp Meeting. — The 5th Annual Solomon Valley Spiritualist Camp 
Meeting will be held under the direction of the Delphos Society at Delphos, Ottawa 
County, Kansas, from September 22nd to October 1st inclusive." 

'■ The People's Camp Meeting will be held on the grounds of the Cassadaga Lake 
Free Association, from July 28th to August 28th inclusive." 

" Spiritualist Camp Meeting at Lake George, N, Y., from July 15th to August 20th." 

Several new Camp Meetings have been started within the last two years 
of which the author has no authorized accounts, in addition to those 
named above ; nearly all of which are old established gatherings. Besides 
these, there is a long list of Grove Meetings, and Conventions, announced 
to continue for two, three, or more days ; — all and each of which command 
full gatherings, never falling below six or seven hundred, and often reaching 
to several thousand persons. 

Quite recently, a blatant minister of the Church of England, who found 
his pew rents like his congregation, sadly in need of replenishment, com- 
menced, by way of effecting his object, a series of Sunday Evening Ser- 
mons "against Spiritualism," — to be preached in the Church of the Holy 
Trinity, Liverpool, England. 

The religious paper that reported these sermons, announced them as 
" Spiritualism in its coffin " ; — " Nailing down the lid " ; and, " Death blow 
to Spiritualism," &c., &c. One of the correspondents of this same religious 
paper, called upon the clergyman aforesaid, to do his duty, and crush out 
the obnoxious .reptile — Spiritualism — at once. Other writers followed in 
the same strain ; but all agreed, that the clergyman in question, whose 
name was never heard till then beyond his dreary range of empty pews, 
and a few solemnly sad looking worshippers, scattered by twos and threes, 
through the church, could soon do the business^ and presently the whole thing 
would collapse beneath the lightning of the minister's eye, and the thunder 
of the ecclesiastical sheet engaged in " Nailing down the lid " of Spiritual- 
ism's coffin. 

Although Mrs. Hardinge-Britten was called upon during several weeks by 
the Liverpool Spiritualists to answer this monstrous bombast, her controls 
never deemed it worth while to do more than use these occasions to 
describe what Spiritualism was not, as well as what it was. 

Could the reverend orator and his clerical abettors have glanced over the 
foregoing chapter before entering upon their pitiful crusade, is it not more 
than probable that they would have paused to draw breath before they 
entered upon their work ? and measuring their own exceeding littleness 
against the multitude whom their vain gloriousness presumed to attack, 
would they not have prudently waited until they had found another 
Samson before they attempted to slay their thousands and tens of 
thousands with " the jaw bone of an ass ? " 







H 
X 






H 
C/5 




-^r.^iffry 




^, 







NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 551 



CHAPTER LXL 

CONCLUSION. 

It need scarcely be stated to the readers of this volume, that its limits no 
more admit of a record which would include all the memorable names which 
have figured in the history of American Spiritualism, than it would serve to 
catalogue all the noteworthy personages who have been instrumental in 
planting the standards of the Spiritual cause in other countries of the earth. 
Of the vast number of influential actors in the great nineteenth century 
Spiritual drama mentioned in the author's Twenty Years' History of Modern 
American Spiritualism, few indeed are now remaining on earth. Amongst 
those still spared to the present generation are the three Fox sisters, whose 
eminent services in founding the first Spiritual telegraph of the present age, 
have been fully described in " Modern American Spiritualism," as well as 
every other work written on the subject of the present Spiritual dispensa- 
tion. The eldest of the far-famed sisters known as "The Rochester 
Knockers," Mrs. Leah Fox Underbill, though retired from her long and 
arduous duties as a professional test Medium, is ever gratefully remembered 
by the Spiritualists of this country, as well as by the many personal friends 
who throng her pleasant salons in her private New York residence. 
Margaretta Fox — now the widow of Dr. Kane, the eminent Arctic dis- 
coverer — and Mrs. Kate Jencken — also unfortunately deprived by the 
death angel of her good companion Henry Jencken, barrister, of London, 
England — still pursue their avocations as professional Mediums, the former 
in America, the latter in England. Mrs. Jencken is the mother of two lovely 
and promising boys, the eldest of whom, at the immature age of five months, 
whilst held in his nurse's arms, began toying with a pencil lying on the 
table near the babe, and in the presence of rehable witnesses, his tiny hand — 
moved by an invisible but irresistible power — wrote several hnes in clear 
bold cahgraphy, the facsimile of which will be found on the opposite 
page. 

Still another of the most celebrated and esteemed of the Spiritual " old 
guard," who remains at the post of duty, is Mr. J. V. Mansfield, the Spirit 
postmaster, whose powers as an unrivalled' writing Medium will also be 
found described in ample detail in " Modern American Spiritualism." 
Though the snows of many winters have bleached the once raven locks, the 
heart and hand of the good "postmaster " are as devoted to the service of 
the angels, as in days of yore. 

During a period of nearly thirty years, Mr. Mansfield calculates that he 
must have written over one hundred thousand answers to sealed letters at 
the dictation of Spirits ! He has seen one after another of his early friends 
and associates vanish from his side, and last, and best beloved of all, the 
fair and faithful companion of his youth, the friend and counsellor of his 
mature age, has disappeared amidst the golden mists which enshroud the 
radiant summer land, from the dazzled eyes of mortality ; but despite of 
care and change, bereavement, and the stealthy approaches of life's wintry 
season, for which earth knows no returning spring, James V. Mansfield has 
still kept his seat at the mystic Spirit table ; waiting — and seldom in vain — 
for the invisible dictators who should send messages of consolation and 
proofs of immortality from land to land, and despatch tidings from the 



552 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

post-ofifice of the soul across the silent sea, bounded by the coast lines of 
earth and the realms of immortality. 

In a copy of the Banner of Light some eighteen years old, is a long list 
of speakers, healers, test Mediums, &c., &c., very few of whom now remain 
on earth to fill the posts of duty they then occupied. 

In the midst of this decimation of the Spiritual ranks, it is indeed 
pleasant to see the standard of the faith still upheld in the great city of 
New York, by Mr. Henry J. Newton, a noble gentleman, who, with his 
devoted and accomplished wife, as far back as a quarter of a century ago, 
dared to proclaim himself a Spiritualist in the face of the most bitter and 
relentless sentiment of public antagonism to the faith. 

Professional gentlemen and merchants may fwiv walk the streets of New 
York, and though they may be openly avowed Spiritualists, they are no 
longer in danger of being mobbed or maltreated. Not so when Mr. Henry 
J. Newton became a Spiritualist. Of a rich and flourishing firm of piano- 
forte makers, Mr. Newton was still dependent on public opinion for his 
standing amongst his fellow men, and this, and much more he fearlessly 
risked, for the sake of the cause which he had espoused. During all the 
stormy scenes of warfare and persecution which Spiritualists had to endure, 
ere their faith could obtain general recognition, Mr. and Mrs. Newton 
never faltered. Their hospitable doors were ever open to the harassed 
Mediums, and their aid, support, and countenance, ever extended to the 
advocates of the cause. They helped to sustain the public meetings both 
with purse and person, and Mrs. Newton's beautiful soprano voice has been 
a feature of interest for many a succeeding year in the Sabbath day gather- 
ings of the Spiritualists. 

And now this noble couple have lived to realize the fruits of their self- 
sacrifice and untiring devotion. For many past years Mr. Newton has held 
the post of President of the First Society of Spiritualists in New Yofk, and 
with the admirable ministrations of Mrs. Nellie T. Brigham as the regular 
speaker, Mr. Newton has had the happiness of seeing the faith he advocates 
grow into such honour and respect with the pubHc, that few meetings in 
the city are better attended, and few Sabbath day gatherings are more 
prolific of divine and salvatory teachings than that presided over by Mr. 
Newton. 

Besides Mr. Newton, Mr. Charles Partridge, the veteran father of New 
York Spiritualism, and the founder of the first and best Spiritual paper ever 
published. The Spiritual Telegraph, still maintains his place in the fore- 
most ranks, as in the respect and honour of the New York Spiritualists. 
Dr. J. M. Buchanan, the learned and philosophic discoverer of the marvellous 
power of reading character by touch — a power which he himself has named 
" psychometry " — with his fair and gifted wife, one of the best psychometrists 
of the age, are also residents of New York. There too resides Mr. Henry 
Kiddle, ex-school superintendent of New York, a gentleman who has 
sacrificed name, place, and position, for the faith he advocates, and one 
whose learning and ability would reflect honour on any cause. It must be 
added, also, that although many of the grand " old guard" have performed 
their last act of good service for Spiritualism on earth, young, fresh, and 
aspiring men and women have not been wanting to infuse new vitality into 
the ever-advancing march of the army. 

Hosts of " materiahzing Mediums " follow in the track of Conklin, Red- 
man, &c., &c. Mrs. Richmond, Lizzie Doten, A. B. French, Dr. Storer, 
and F. L. Willis, already stretch out the hand of welcome to their younger 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 553 

sisters and brothers in the persons of Mrs. NelUe T. Brigham, Mrs. Shep- 
herd LiUie, Mr. W. J. Colville, Captain H. H. Brown, and a constantly 
increasing succession of brave Spirits who are springing up on every side to 
fill the gaps that the death angel has left in the ranks. 

We cannot close these personal notices without a few words of grateful 
recognition of the invaluable services rendered to the cause of truth and 
knowledge by Mr. WiUiam Emmette Coleman, a Western gentleman, 
whose admirable and scholarly essays appear for the most part in the 
columns of the Religio-Philosophical Journal. Mr. Coleman has had a 
strange and varied life — one that will form a deeply interesting page of 
biography in some future volume devoted to such records. Meantime, it is 
enough to say at present, that like many another " self-made " American, 
this man, still young in years, but old in rich experience, has studied so 
deeply and well the lore of ancient myth and Oriental literature, that his 
journaUstic articles are a perfect treasury of research and valuable informa- 
tion. An untiring and devoted advocate of Spiritualism pure and unadul- 
terated, the shams, frauds, and fanatics have found an unrelenting censor 
in Mr. Coleman. Indeed, if it were not for the well-known worship of 
truth which animates his busy pen, his best friends would regret the unspar- 
ing severity with which he is prompt to rebuke the charlatan, and expose 
the pretender. As the hammer of the " iconoclast " is often more necessary 
to shatter the idols within the ranks of reform than without them, so the 
work of such determined censors as Colonel Bundy and his learned con- 
tributor, William Emmette Coleman, have unquestionably been equally 
necessary to purge away the rank weeds of falsehood and sham, that have 
grown up on the fertile soil of Spiritualism. If all things are now being 
brought into judgment, both old and new, and "all that was hidden" is 
at this time destined to see the light, and face the broad sunshine of reaHty, 
then no one has done a better work in promoting such a result than Mr. 
W. E. Coleman, of San Francisco, California. 

It will be remembered that the avowed aim of the author in producing 
this volume has been to compile a compendious history of the great 
Spiritual movement, and whilst endeavouring as far as possible to chronicle 
the leading events of the moving drama, to limit the notices of the indi- 
viduals who appear from time to time upon the scene, to their connection 
with one or two of those cases which may serve to illustrate the chief 
characteristics of the phenomena, which make up the sum of the Spiritual 
system of telegraphy. Keeping this purpose strictly in view, the author has 
recorded well-attested examples of every description of phenomena by and 
through which Spirits have manifested their presence on earth, but, both for 
the sake of brevity, and in accordance with the plans laid down for her by her 
invisible prompters and assistants, she has been compelled to eliminate all 
merely personal histories or biographical details, save and except such as 
were essential to the clearer understanding of the progress of the move- 
ment. Thus there are at this very period throughout America, scores of 
admirable Mediums for the production of "form materialization" and 
marvellous dark circle phenomena, whose faithful services keep alive the 
world's faith in Spiritual presence on earth, but whose only record at 
present is to be found in the columns of the Spiritual journals. To these 
eminent workers, besides the numerous speakers, writers, and faithful 
labourers in the great vineyard of effort, of whom it would be impossible 
now to give detailed notices, we have only to say, the plan of another work, 
including the biographies of Mediums and renowned Spiritualists, has been 



554 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

sketched put by the author's Spirit friends as her next Uterary undertaking, 
and will be put into execution at the earliest available opportunity. Until 
this arrives, the faithful and self sacrificing labourers who toil so often and 
so long without other reward than that which scant courtesy, a paltry meed 
of recompense, or the satisfaction which their own consciousness of work 
well done affords, must be content to wait for that earthly word of remem- 
brance which the author herewith pledges herself to give them to the utmost 
of her power, in a forthcoming volume. 

One only departure from the enforced silence of these closing lines can 
we now make, and that is to assure our readers that the first as well as one 
of the noblest of the phenomenal personages who has made this century 
memorable with Spiritual footprints, namely, Mr, Andrew Jackson Davis, 
is still in the mortal form, and doing a noble and untiring work in preach- 
ing the " harmonial philosophy " to weekly gatherings of devoted followers 
in New York. 

Those who best know the author of this volume are aware, that there are 
many points of divergence between the opinions she has received from the 
teachings of trusted Spirit friends, and those enunciated, and often written, 
by Mr. Davis ; but there are none more than the author, who can 
fervently admire the nobility of mind, purity of life, and wonderful Spiritual 
endowments that have distinguished Mr. Davis's whole career, and made 
him and his revelations the very corner-stone upon which the great Spiritual 
reformation of the nineteenth century is.upreared. 

We have been given to understand that Mr. Davis has quite recently 
passed through a University course which has qualified him to take his 
place amongst the secular scientists of the day, as one of the medical 
faculty, and that he is now Dr. A. J. Davis. 

It is indeed gratifying to be able to add that the renowned and well- 
beloved couple Hudson and Emma Tuttle, now in the prime of hfe, 
continue to exercise their unmeasured usefulness in every good work. Dr. 
Slade, Charles Watkins, Mrs. Simpson and Maud Lord, A. H. Phillips, and 
hosts of others scarcely less famous, maintain the phenomenal department 
of the movement to admiration, whilst as the only representative of the 
numerous corps of American trance speakers to whom we can now call 
attention, we would name Mr. W. J. Colville — himself a phenomenon of 
intellectual SpirituaUty, never yet excelled, even if his peer can be found 
within the ranks of Spiritualism. Petite in person, and with no special 
educational or natural advantages, this young gentleman when on the 
rostrum and under control of his Spirit friends, is capable of dealing with, 
and mastering any point of science, metaphysics, or history, that may be 
spontaneously presented to him. If the present decade had produced no 
other evidence of inspiration from supra-mundane sources than Mr. W. J. 
Colville, he alone might suffice to prove its continued existence and 
ministry. Mr. Colville has quite recently made a visit to England. 
Allusion has before been made to his invaluable services on the Spiritual 
rostrum of the old country ; in fact, his marvellous style of oratory, besides 
his capacity to improvise poems on any theme that his audiences may 
suggest, all combine to render him one of the most remarkable evidences 
of Spiritual influence that the ranks of Spiritualism can display. 

It can scarcely be possible for any thinking person to peruse the foregoing 
pages, without coming to the conclusion that the movement they treat of 
is one of a truly supra-mundane nature. Never before in the history of the 
race has any belief of a religious character obtained so wide and deep a 



NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 555 

foothold amongst men, or established its standards of faith at so many 
distant points at once, appealed successfully to so many classes of society, 
and wrought such a vast revolution in human opinion— and that in less 
than half a century of time. 

Let the reader consider the different and widely-separated nationalities 
treated of in this record, the vast numbers already engaged in the work, 
and then, even without allowing for the fact that where one case has been 
recorded, at least a hundred parallels remain untouched, the above 
assertions must be accepted without reserve or qualification. 

Fifty years ago, the destiny of all the countless millions that have vanished 
from the earth through the mysterious portals of death, was utterly unknown. 
Whether they were sleeping in the ground, annihilated, living, some in 
eternal torment, others in eternal bliss, or when, or how, if ever, we should 
meet them again, was all an unsolved mystery. Now the sea has given 
up the drowned mariner; the fire has restored its perished myriads; 
the earth has yielded up her buried treasures ; the ages have not blotted 
out from view a single creature that has ever drawn the breath of life. On 
the night of the 31st of March, 1848, we found beyond a shadow of doubt 
or peradventure, that death had no power over the Spirit, could never 
touch the soul, or destroy one attribute or property of soul hfe. In a 
word, we found our so-called dead were all living, aye, and living so near 
to us, that they breathe our very atmosphere, share our very thoughts, and 
do us a thousand times more good as blessed inspiring guardian Spirits than 
they ever could effect as poor weak mortals like ourselves. 

On the 31st of March 1848, we discovered that we had never lost a 
friend ; only parted with those that had vanished behind the veil of mortality 
as far as our mortal vision is concerned. On that momentous night, all our 
vague dreams of " Supernaturalism " were swept away like cobwebs, and in 
their place came the realities of a rational living human Spirit naturaUsm. 
All our doubts and denials concerning " miracles " were blown to the winds, 
and a new and wonderful array of powers for the soul, possibilities for the 
man of the future, and germs of new sciences, took their place. We found 
besides matter and force, a new element, called "Spirit." We discovered 
the existence of a new country ; one as much more capacious and extensive 
than earth, as the generations of the past are more numerous than those of 
the present. 

We were enabled to locate that country and map it out as existing in and 
about the planet, and holding the same relation to it, as our souls hold to 
our bodies. We discovered that night, a new phase of physiology in the 
existence (in some individuals) of a force which can animate inanimate 
bodies — make dumb things speak, and blind non-intelligent matter deliver 
wonderful messages. We saw founded that night, a telegraph, which 
outstrips that of electricity, and without wires, batteries, or needles, carries 
messages between heaven and earth, and exchanges ideas with all the 
vanished ones of past ages in the twinkhng of an eye. We found in the 
Spirit rappings, a new page in the science of acoustics ; in the apparition 
of living Spirit people, a new page in the science of optics. We found in 
" dancing tables " a new motor power. We discovered in the formation of 
Spirit hands, a page of chemistry that puts all other chemical operations 
known to man utterly in the shade ; and above and beyond all this, we 
found the complete solution to our own fate hereafter. We saw the judg- 
ment upon all our works, words, and thoughts. 

We learned how to build our own heaven or avoid our inevitable hell. 



556 NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. 

We saw the results of every moment of our lives in the doom of those 
that had gone before us. Their past, and our present and future through- 
out all //;«(?, if not through eternity, was all so clearly revealed to us, that 
henceforth we never need say more " we take our leap in the dark." We 
know we are making or marring our life hereafter — and thus the chains of 
fear, doubt, error, ecclesiastical pretentions, priestly ignorance, with all the 
fictions of the past, and mysteries of the future, fall like ropes of sand from 
our necks, and we stand in the light of a scientific religion and a religious 
science, emancipated souls, newly born into the divine and unshackled 
liberty of truth. For the present the author and reader must part com- 
pany. The former will not insult the intelligence of the latter by 
pretending that she offers to the world's acceptance a work upon which she 
herself does not set a high value ; and yet, who can be so conscious as a 
patient world-wide investigator into the marvels of Spiritualism, how im- 
possible it is for any mortal hand to chronicle one tithe of what the Spirits 
have done amongst men in this century, or for any one volume to contain 
the record. 

And still, humble and reverent acknowledgments of human incapacity 
must be accompanied with earnest and grateful recommendations to study 
out the record, such as it is, with all fidelity, were it only as an incentive to 
extend the field of exploration to the end of the reader's mortal career. 
Without attempting to shoulder upon " the Spirits" the many shortcomings 
which the execution of so mighty a record as this must necessarily manifest, 
the author can at least claim that it was undertaken, and continuously 
assisted, by the wise intelligences by whom her life labours have been for 
many years past consciously guided, and whether they selected her as 
their scribe from choice, or in the absence of a more suitable instrument, it 
is for them alone to decide. It is enough for the author to claim that her 
portion of the work has been fulfilled with the most inviolable regard to 
truth and justice, and at the same time in a spirit of charity towards all, 
and malice to none. For the rest — whether it concerns the opinions of 
men, or the future issues of her work, the author rests secure upon the 
strength of her Hfe's motto — 

God understands. 




John Hevwood, Excelsior Steam Printing and Bookbinding Works, Hulme Hall Road, Manchester. j 



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